CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2008
| Author | Ghegoiu, Silviu |
|---|---|
| Title | Waldensians at the Turn of the Fifteenth Century in the Duchy of Austria. Perception of Heresy and Action against Heretics. |
| Summary | The thesis deals with the inquisition the Celestine monk Peter Zwicker conducted in the duchy of Austria at the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries. His inquisitorial activity was influenced by anti-heretical and anti-Waldensian polemical treatises written in the last two centuries before him. He had, however, gathered more useful knowledge for interrogations from his own previous experiences as inquisitor in northern German lands. The goal of the thesis is to answer the questions: To what extent the general perception of Waldensians expressed in the treatises had an impact on the organization of the trials? Where was the line between images of Waldensians and reality? My research, limited as it is, relied on the sentences given to Waldensian heretics in the period between 1397 and 1401. Work on these sources began in late nineteenth century when Herman Haupt and Ignaz von Döllinger published the sources. Later research brought little contribution, until Peter Biller, in the 1970s, started to look at Zwicker’s own treatise Cum dormirent homines, neglected by historians for its uncertain authorship. After establishing its origin, Biller recognized the originality of Zwicker’s work, both as a polemicist and as an inquisitor, and the treatise as one the most important works of its kind from the late Middle Ages. The argument of my thesis is that the perception Zwicker had of Waldensians was less important than the reality he encountered during the trials, as he adapted himself to local particularities and individual behavior of the suspects. |
| Supervisor | Klaniczay, Gabor |
| Department | Medieval Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2008/ghegoiu_silviu.pdf |
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