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In Medieval times religion went
through various transitions. Spain had an uneasy truce
between the Muslims of Moorish Spain, and the staunch
Catholicism of northern Spain. The Christian church
experienced its first great schism, with the emergence
of the Orthodox church, and a series of heretical off-shoots
of the Catholic church. It was a time of conflicting
faiths, violent clashes, and the forming of secret socities
to escape from open persecution.
Christianity provided the basis
for a first European "identity," Christendom,
unified until the separation of Orthodox Churches from
the Catholic Church in the Great Schism of 1054. Thus
started an “Eastern Church” (Orthodox) and
a “Western Church” (Catholic). Christianity
would see further splits as “heretical” bands
appeared, gained popularity, and then were hunted by
the Papacy. Some of these split-offs included Catharism
(also known as Albigensians), Arianism, Manichaeism,
Bogomils, and other various Gnostic off-shoots. They
suffered persecution from the Papacy, as did any Jewish
believers in Europe.
Arianism found the ire of the
Papal Church because of their beliefs that Jesus was
not eternal, but inferior to God the Father, and the
obvious disbelief in the trinity, which to this day
is still a mainframe of Catholic theology. This was
a form that took more root in the east than the west,
though after the influence wore off in the east, it
still remained much longer with the German tribes, who
received Arianism’s most successful missionary.
 Catharism was a large heretical
sect that first appeared sometime in the middle of the
tenth century. They lasted despite the persecution,
as they were still around in 1181, when they received
the name Albigensians, based on the town of Albi, which
is a little odd since the center of Catharism was at
Toulouse, France. They believed that every human had
a spark of divinity, but it was corrupted by the material
world. This was a distinct feature of classic Gnosticism,
Manichaeism, and Bogomilism. They believed the world
was created by a lesser deity, which was corrupt. The
goal was freedom from this corruption, which was connected
with material existence and could only be achieved by
swearing off those things that held people in material
bondage. The most dedicated, those who became “Perfecti”
gave up all earthly goods, sex, violence, and meat (other
than fish) and any foods that resulted from sexual acts,
such as eggs. They then depended on charity and alms
to eat, and followed the example of Christ and his apostles.
Their obvious piety versus the incredible corruption
of the Medieval Catholic church was a major reason why
it was so hard to stamp out.
Eventually these off-shoots would
fade before the end of Medieval times, though the Orthodox
church would remain strong, and eventually the Reformation
would lead to a permanent split. The faiths of the Medieval
ages, heretic and pagan, have faded away, and even the
faiths of the same names today are but a shadow of what
they once were. |
