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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1613: Religious Dissent, Reform, and Repression, II: Early Inquisitors in Context

Thursday 4 July 2019, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Department for the Study of Religions, Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Organiser:David Zbíral, Department for the Study of Religions, Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Moderator/Chair:Reima Välimäki, Department of Cultural History / Turku Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Turku
Paper 1613-aConrad of Marburg: Inquisitor or Heresy Hunter?
(Language: English)
František Novotný, Department for the Study of Religions, Masarykova univerzita, Brno
Index terms: Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History, Law, Social History
Paper 1613-bRobert le Bougre: The First French Inquisitor?
(Language: English)
Alessandro Sala, Independent Scholar, Milano
Index terms: Canon Law, Ecclesiastical History, Law, Social History
Paper 1613-cPerceptions of Inquisitors in South-West France between 1280 and 1325
(Language: English)
Derek Hill, Independent Scholar, Harrow Weald
Index terms: Administration, Ecclesiastical History, Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities
Abstract

This session focuses on the early development of the papal inquisition. The first two papers explore the very first generation of inquisitors (or heresy-hunters?) in the 1230's through two infamous figures, Conrad of Marburg and Robert le Bougre. In the classical histories of the inquisition, both serve as examples of inquisitorial abuses, if not sadism. However, they can also be seen as experimenters who struggled to find and impose new ways of handling heresy in their respective local contexts by drawing on quite varied cultural resources. The session will close with a paper allowing comparison of this fresh assessment of sources on Conrad of Marburg and Robert le Bougre with the changing perception of the inquisition in 1280s-1320s, representative of the more institutionalised and standardized procedure of inquisitio heretice pravitatis.