IMC 2006: Sessions

Abstract paper -b: Philip the Chancellor (ca. 1160-1236) played a significant role in many aspects of the cultural life of the early 13th century - in music, poetry, theology, and the shaping of the university in Paris. Less well known is his role in the suppression of heretics in Champagne and Flanders in the period 1230-1236.

In his 1987 catalogue of Philip’s poems, Dronke attributes to him, without discussion, an 80-line poem, Dogmatum falsas species -an uncompromising denunciation of heresy. French prelates are attacked for ignoring the problem. In August 1235, exasperated by their inaction, Pope Gregory IX had relieved them of responsibility for controlling heresy, appointing Robert le Bougre Inquisitor General for all of France. Later in 1235, heretics were burned at Châlons-sur-Marne in the presence of Robert le Bougre and Philip. Philip was probably assisting Robert with his expertise in theology and canon law.

After Châlons, Robert headed north early in 1236 to Péronne, Cambrai, and Douai, burning or “immuring” heretics at each stop. Certain details of Dogmatum falsas species (e.g. allusions to weavers and to 'immuring') comport better with what we know about Robert’s campaign in Flanders than the auto-da-fé in Châlons, and suggest that Philip accompanied Robert there. Significantly, Robert’s first known stop, Péronne, lay in the diocese of Noyon, where Philip was still archdeacon.

Text and translation of the poem will be provided. After a brief discussion why the poem should be ascribed to Philip, the paper will focus on what this new addition to our scanty sources can tell us about the persecution of heresy in northern France, and Philip’s role in that enterprise.