Heritics Essay, Research Paper

Heritics the 3rd Canon of that Council it is enacted that bishops should inquire at*ple embraced the challenges to the Church isthat many of their countrymen were being slaughtered, in the name of God, forexpressing their concerns with the policies of the Church and its theocracy. Thepopulace saw the Church excommunicating, imprisoning and even executing theircountrymen who questioned or challenged its policies and practices. This holy displayof punishment couldn’t have strengthened the Church’s grip on society. + + The people who the Church sought to destroy would simply be labeled as*A reason it sought to destroy heresy may very well be because it did notwant anything to jeopardize the status it had acquired. While Innocent III imposed newregulations in regard to finding heretics, Innocent IV (r. 1243 54) made this task muchmore interesting. Innocent IV added the ingredient of torture, to be administered by thesecular authorities at first, and later by inquisitors and their assistants, in order to”promote the work of faith more truly” . To make these trials, or Inquisitions, fair, asuspected heretic was judged guilty unless he could prove his innocence (3). Theevidence of wives, children, servants and anyone else, regardless if they wereconvicted criminals, had been excommunicated or found guilty of heresy themselves,could be used against a suspect. A History of Heresy by David Christie Murray,*actively pursue those who had any knowledgeof heretics. The Church’s policy of doing away with those who questioned it, andpunishing those who did not obey it could not have helped win support among thepopulace. On top of this was the execution of popular local personalities whoprovided religious services for the community. Local townspeople most likely neversaw the pope or any cardinals within their lifetime. They had no contact with Churchadministration other than their local religious leader, mostly their priests. The priest inthese communities were looked upon with great respect and admiration. Take thecase of George Wishart. Wishart was a Scottish preacher during the first half of thesixteenth century whose sermons would often reflect his question regarding Churchpolicy. Because those with power in Scotland were Roman Catholics, Whishart wasaccused of heresy. To escape persecution, Wishart moved to England in 1538. Ayear later, Whishart moved to Bristol and started preaching again, and again wasaccused of heresy. Feeling the tense situation in England and Scotland, Wishartcrossed the English Channel and traveled around the continent until his situation onthe island returned to normal. After returning to Scotland from continental Europe, he + . Fourteen years after Whishart’s death,Scotland was reformed.| Another condemened man was Jan Hus. Hus was a heretic who rallied greatpublic support against the Catholic Church, albeit most of it was after he was burned atthe stake. Born in 1373, Hus was a Bohemian philosopher who was a fan of theEnglish dissenter John Wycliffe. What impressed Hus most about Wycliffe was hisattacks on the corruption within the Church (5). Hus was the rector of the University ofPrague as well as an ordained priest. Hus was well liked by those who knew him andthose who listened to him. Hus’ preaching was well received by both the lower andupper classes of society. Catholic officials did not appreciate his Wycliffe like ideologyand demanded that he stop preaching. After refusing to stop preaching, Hus wasexcommunicated. Hus eventually alienated himself from his once powerful supportersbecause he denounced the Church’s policy of selling indulgences. Forced to leavePrague, Hus went into the countryside where he was very welcomed. Country lifemust have been less than exciting for Hus, because he made an unfortunate decision + an to say, ‘Thou who wast born of the Virgin Mary,’ a gust of| wind blew the flames into his face, and while his lips still moved he gave up the ghost. * centuries (12). With the invention of better torture tools

that could be used by the Church, tortures such as time in prison became relativelyminuscule during the late middle ages, and certainly during the Reformation. + of various Swiss armies that fought for whoever paid them the most.Not pleased with the mercenary system, Zwingli became a Swiss nationalist, while atthe same time, he began to read the works of Erasmus and believed in his “Philosophyof Christ.” Zwingli started to wonder if the Church took some wrong steps in regard toits doctrine, although during this time he is no where near being a reformer. However,by 1519, Zwingli had read Luther and moved from the “Philosophy of Christ” to”Salvation by Grace.” At the same time that Zwingli starts to become very interested inwhat Luther had to say, he gets called to Zurich by the Church and is offered a job atthe Great Munster Church. In Zurich, the Town Council decides policies instead of local lords and Zwinglisees a chance to influence the Council by being appointed to it. By this time, Zwingli had fully embraced the ideas of the Reformers but was cautious about the way inwhich he approached it. The first step to his reformation was that he announced to theCouncil that he is not going to teach from Church doctrine. Zwingli will start serviceswith the gospel of Matthew in Greek, which is significant in that the Church teaches inLatin. Eventually this leads Zwingli to teach whatever he wishes. In 1523 he insiststhat preaching should only be done from the Bible and not Church doctrine and, in1525, the Town Council allows him to abolish Mass. Zwingli becomes progressivelymore vigilant in his reforms and eventually dies at the hands of Catholic soldiers. Thisdefeat galvanizes Zwingli’s supporters because he becomes a martyr who dies in a*k in this area,brings up some very provocative thoughts. Most historians generally believe that therevolt was a result of intense frustration of a poll tax. The first point Aston considers isthe fact that the heart the rebellion coincided with the festival dedicated by the Churchto worship of the eucharist, a day when believers were expected to go to church, joinprocessions, and honor+ ++ + the host. The second point is that there was an identifiable*o Reformation.Instead there would have been a few dead men who dared to question the Church.The evidence contained within this paper also supports the thesis that as a result ofthe way in which the Church fervently sought the discipline of these heretics, thepopulace began to question the Church’s authority. The ordinary men and womenmost likely did not care about the eucharist in relation to what it meant. Peasants weremore worried about living day to day. Elements that were being argued amongintellectuals, such as the importance of the sacraments, were not items that farmers ormerchants philosophized about. These people sought the answers to such complexquestions as how they were going to obtain their next meal. Therefore, society sawthe challenges of the Church not in terms of theological questions, but in terms of howit affected their everyday life. Many more people knew and respected someone whowas convicted of heresy than knew Luther.| One cannot simply state that the effects of heresy on society was the single mostimportant reason why the Reformation succeeded. However, it can be proven that thepopular effect on medieval heresy did contribute to the success of the Reformation.More than evidence, though, common sense dictates that there cannot be a successfulrevolution, such as the magnitude of the Reformers versus the Church without the+ + + ordon Coulton, The Death Penalty for Heresy from 1184 to 1921 A.D. *

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