[164] Master, or sir; a title of the middle ages, equivalent to the modern title of doctor.
MANY CHRISTIANS BURNT IN FLANDERS, A. D. 1183, AND VERY MANY PUT TO DEATH IN OTHER PLACES.
For the year 1183 we read of many more such people, who were called publicans (of which name we have already spoken) and whom Philip, Count of Flanders, and William, Archbishop of Rheims, caused, most unmercifully, to be burnt.
Concerning this, Rigordus, an ancient historian of those times, writes as follows for said year: “At this time, very many heretics (thus this papistic writer calls the true Christians), were burnt in Flanders, by the reverend bishop of Rheims, cardinal priest of the title of Sancta Sabina, Legate of the Pope, and by Philip, the illustrious count of Flanders. _Rig., p. 168, edit. Wechelian._
“The same year,” says the above author, “over seven thousand Cottarelli (thus he calls the pious witnesses of Jesus, also called Waldenses and Albigenses), were slain in the province of Bourges, by the inhabitants of the land, who all united against them, as against the enemies of God.”
Notice here, that they must all have been defenseless people, since so great a number suffered themselves to be put to death by so few people as there were at that time in the small province of Bourges; however, we leave this to God.
The same writer adds also this: “In the same year, Pope Lucius condemned as heretics those who in Italy were called Humilitani, and in France, Poor Men of Lyons (the Albigenses and Waldenses), whereupon, as may well be supposed, no small persecution took place in those hot times.
This decree, it seems, was first published, or else renewed, A. D. 1184, or, as others state, A. D. 1185. according to the account of Mellinus, _2d book, fol. 443, col. 2_.
DECREE OF POPE LUCIUS III. AGAINST THE WALDENSES, ETC., WHO ARE CALLED BY VARIOUS NAMES.
In the year 1184, or, as others write, 1185, Pope Lucius made a decree in the city of Verona, in the presence of the Emperor Frederick, which reads as follows:
“In order to eradicate the wickedness of various heresies that have begun to manifest themselves in many countries throughout the whole world, the power of ecclesiastical discipline must be called into requisition.
“Therefore, relying on the presence and power of our most beloved son, the Roman Emperor Frederick, we, with the common advice of our brethren, as well as of other patriarchs, archbishops, and many princes, who have assembled here from different parts of the realm, have, by this general resolution of our present decree, set ourselves against the heretics, who from various errors have received various names, and by apostolical authority, through this our constitution, have condemned all heresies by whatever name they may be called. First, the Catharists and the Patarini, and those who falsely and fictitiously call themselves Humiliati (humiliated ones) or Poor Men of Lyons; as well as the Passaginians, Josephists, Arnoldists; all these we lay under an everlasting curse.
“And since some, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, as the apostle says, have assumed the authority to preach, though the same apostle says, How shall they preach, except they be sent? all those to whom this is forbidden, or who, not being sent, presumptuously dare preach, secretly or publicly, without authority from the apostolic see, or consent from the bishop of the place; and all who believe otherwise or do not fear to teach otherwise than the Roman church preaches and maintains, in regard to the sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, or to baptism (namely, infant baptism), or to the confession of sins, that is, auricular confession, or to marriage, and other sacraments of the church; and, in general, all those who will not condemn those as heretics whom the Roman church, or any bishop in his bishopric, with the advice of his clergy, or, in case of the decease of their own bishop, the clergy themselves, with the advice of the neighboring bishops, have declared as such, all these, I say, we bind with the bond of an everlasting ban. Likewise those who take them into their houses, and defend them, and all who uphold said heretics, fostering in them the heretical wickedness, whether they be called _Consolati_, _Credentes_, _Perfecti_, or by whatever other similar name, we include them all in this sentence of condemnation.”