Defining Heresy: Inquisition, Theology, and Papal Policy in the Time of Jacques Fournier (Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions, 192)

In Defining Heresy, Irene Bueno Investigates The Methods And Discourses Of Anti-heretical Repression In The First Half Of The Fourteenth Century, Focusing On The Figure Of Jacques Fournier/benedict Xii (c.1284-1342), Bishop-inquisitor, Theologian, And, Eventually, Pope At Avignon. Introduction -- Part I: At The Crossroad Of Justices -- At The Crossroad Of Justices: A Bishop's Court In The Early Fourteenth Century -- Repressing Secundum Iura. Jacques Fournier, Inquisitorial Procedures And Dissimulation -- Question Heretics: Proving Error According To Tradition -- The Extension Of Heretical Paradigm -- Part 2: The Gospel And The Heretics -- Heresy In Fournier's Theological And Exegetical Writings -- Heretics In Fournier's Commentary On Matthew -- The Signs Of Heresy: How To Tell A Plant From Its Fruit -- The Origin Of Evil And Individual Responsibility -- Part 3: The Papacy Against Heretics -- Heretics, Rebels, And Schismatics In The Pontificate Of Benedict Xii -- Apostolico Conspectui: Heretics And Inquisitors Between Centre And Periphery -- Schismatics And Infidels Beyond The Frontiers Of Latin Christianity -- Conclusions. By Irene Bueno ; Translated From Italian By Isabella Bolognese, Tony Brophy And Sarah Rolfe Prodan. Includes Bibliographical References (pages [339]-362) And Indexes. In Defining Heresy , Irene Bueno investigates the theories and practices of anti-heretical repression in the first half of the fourteenth century, focusing on the figure of Jacques Fournier/Benedict XII (c.1284-1342). Throughout his career as a bishop-inquisitor in Languedoc, theologian, and, eventually, pope at Avignon, Fournier made a multi-faceted contribution to the fight against religious dissent. Making use of judicial, theological, and diplomatic sources, the book sheds light on the multiplicity of methods, discourses, and textual practices mobilized to define the bounds of heresy at the end of the Middle Ages. The integration of these commonly unrelated areas of evidence reveals the intellectual and political pressures that inflected the repression of heretics and dissidents in the peculiar context of the Avignon papacy.