Heresy of the Free Spirit

The Free Spirit heresy consisted of small groups of Christian heretics living mostly in the Bohemia area of eastern Germany during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Their worship was not well organized and their doctrine was not well defined. Their beliefs were mostly spread in the form of literature.

Teachings

The Heresy of the Free Spirit mixed mystical beliefs with Christianity. Its practitioners believed that it was possible to reach perfection on earth through a life of austerity and spiritualism. They believed that they could communicate directly with God and did not need the Christian church for intercession. Critics of the Free Spirit interpreted their beliefs to mean that they considered themselves to be incapable of sin and above the moral conduct of the church. [Michael D. Bailey, Battling Demons: Witchcraft, Heresy, and Reform in the Late Middle Ages (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003) , 56.] However, there is no evidence that this was part of their dogma.

Background

The roots of the Free Spirit can be traced back to Meister Eckhart, a German Dominican, who lived during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Eckhart’s beliefs and his broad German audience gained him recognition as the "father" of the Free Spirit. In 1326, Eckhart was charged by the Pope for teaching heresy. He rigorously denied and defended against that charge until he disappeared from public life. Eckhart probably borrowed some of his doctrine from the teachings of earlier heretics. [Robert E. Lerner, The Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1972) , 1-5.] One such heretic was Marguerite Porete, a French woman, who authored "The Mirror of Simple Souls". The Mirror of Simple Souls taught that the soul must pass through seven spiritual stages before it reached perfection. Porete’s writing became renowned and well read throughout France even though the Church condemned them as heresy. She was convicted of heresy and burned at stake in the Place de Greve, France, in 1310. [Richard Kieckhefer, Repression of Heresy in Medieval Germany (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1979) , 38-39.]

Church reaction

By the early fifteenth century, the Christian church in Germany viewed heresy as a serious threat. It became a leading topic for discussion at the Council of Basel in 1431. Johannes Nider, a Dominican reformer who attended the council, became concerned that beliefs of the Free Spirit heresy, and other heresies, were mixed with elements of witchcraft. In his 1434 work, "Formicarius", Nider combined the Free Spirit heresy with witchcraft in his condemnation of false teachings. "Formicarius" also became a model for "Malleus maleficarum", a later work by Heinrich Kramer in 1486 [Bailey, Battling Demons, 49.] . By the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, the Christian church’s efforts to eradicate heresy and witchcraft resulted in witchcraft trials and even witch burnings.

ee also

*Brethren of the Free Spirit
*Marguerite Porete
*Meister Eckhart
*The Mirror of Simple Souls
*Sister Catherine Treatise

References