Everyday Faith in the Middle Ages Issue 49 | 1996 Click here to order the downloadable audio version

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The medieval Catholic church did not think toleration of doctrinal error a virtue, and it took decisive steps to correct heresy when it appeared.

First, the church supported Christian groups that remained loyal to Rome while living out some radical practices of heretics, practices that were both biblical and effective at reforming the church (which was one concern of many dissenters).

Francis of Assisi (1182–1226), for example, shared many of Valdes’s ideals; Francis encouraged people to lead lives of Christian poverty and perfection. His friars were loyal Catholics, and in 1210 Pope Innocent III licensed them as a new religious order.

Francis was not centrally concerned about fighting heresy, but Dominic Guzman was. He founded the Dominicans, or the Friars Preacher, in 1217, specifically to deal with the Cathars, both by example (in a lifestyle of Christian poverty) and by teaching. A high proportion of Dominicans were university educated, and they evangelized cities and taught lay people orthodox Christian doctrine.

The church’s other strategy was more severe: In 1227, Gregory IX introduced as an experiment something he called the Inquisition.

Inquisitors were appointed over districts and toured them seeking out heretics. Failure to attend an inquisitor’s tribunal could lead to arrest.

The inquisitor’s primary concern was to reconcile heretics to the church. If he succeeded, the heretic was dismissed with penance, such as making a pilgrimage or fasting on bread and water for so many days. This was the result for 90 percent of the people examined by the Inquisition.

However, there was a darker side to the tribunal’s activities. Cathar believers who refused to recant, for example, were normally ...