A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition

'A History of Medieval Heresy and Inquisition' is a well balanced discussion of heresy and inquisition in the Middle Ages. With regard to Heresy, Jennifer Kolpacoff Deane has analysed the critical issues in world and international history. The book focuses on the medieval time period of 1100-1500, exploring the increasingly bitter clashes between piety, reform, dissent, and the institutional Church.

The author discusses the major factors that triggered confrontations between Christians, such as access to scripture, apostolic models of poverty and preaching, the Eucharist and sacramental power, and clerical corruption and wealth.

The book ranges from the 'Good Christians' of Languedoc and Lombardy and the pan-European 'Poor,' to Spiritual Franciscans, lay religious women, anticlerical and vernacular movements in England and Bohemia, mysticism, magical practices, and witchcraft. Throughout, Deane considers how the new inquisitorial bureaucracies not only triggered anxiety over heresy, but actually generated fictional 'heresies' through their own texts and techniques. Incorporating recent research and debates in the field, Deane's analysis brings to life a compelling issue that significantly affected the medieval world.