Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/144

 1200, &c. 1-24 THE DECLINE AND FALL Catholics of every rank, and of either sex, had embraced the Manichaean heresy; and the flames which consumed twelve canons of Orleans was the first act and signal of persecution. The Bulgarians,-^'' a name so innocent in its origin, so odious in its application, spread their branches over the face of Europe. United in common hatred of idolatry and Rome, they were con- nected by a form of episcopal and presbyterian government ; their various sects were discriminated by some fainter or darker shades of theology ; but they genei'ally agreed in the two prin- ciples : the contempt of the Old Testament, and the denial of the body of Christ, either on the cross or in the eucharist. A confession of simple worship and blameless manners is extorted from their enemies ; and so high was their standard of perfection that the increasing congregations were divided into two classes of disciples, of those who practised and of those who aspired. Persecution It was in the country of the Albigeois,^'^ in the southern pro- geoia'' A.D. vinccs of Francc, that the Paulicians were most deeply implanted : t'tnn A«, 7111 and the same vicissitudes ot martyrdom and revenge which had been displayed in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates were re- peated in the thirteenth century on the banks of the Rhone. Tlie laws of the Eastern emperors were revived by Frederic the Second. The insurgents of Tephrice were represented by the barons and cities of Languedoc : Pope Innocent III. surpassed the sanguinary fame of Theodora. It was in cruelty alone that her soldiers could equal the heroes of the crusades, and the William the Apulian, who clearly describes them in a battle between the Greeks and Normans, A.D. 1040 (in Muratori, Script. Reruni Ital. torn. v. p. 256). Cum Grascis aderant quidam quos pessimus error Fecerat amentes, et ab ipso nomen habebant. But he is so ignorant of their doctrine as to make them a kind of Sabellians or Patripassians. [It is thought that the Bogomilian doctrine travelled westward chieHy by the provinces of southern Italy ; Jirecek, 0/'. cit. p. 212.] '•'•*' B II Igari, Boulgres, Bougres, a national appellation, has been applied by the French as a term of reproach to usurers and unnatural sinners. The Paterini, or Patelini, has been made to signify a smooth and flattering hypocrite, such as I' Avocat Patflin of that original and pleasant farce (Ducange, Gloss. Latinitat. medii et infimi ^vi). [The word is said to be derived from Pataria, a suburb of Milan.] The Manichasans were likewise named Cathari, or the pure, by corrup- tion, Gazari, ike. •"Of the laws, crusade, and persecution against the Albigeois, a just, though general, idea is expressed by Mosheim (p. 477-481). The detail may be found in the ecclesiastical historians, ancient and modern, Catholics and Protestants ; and among these Fleury is the most impartial and moderate. [C. Schmidt, Histoirect doctrine de la secte des Cathares, -2 vols., 1849. Ra?ki, Bogomili i Catareni, Agram, 1869. These sectaries begin to appear in southern Gaul about a.d. 1017. Their chief seat was Toulouse ; they were called Allngeois from the town of Albi, and TisicrariJs because nia- y weavers embraced the doctrine. For the Ritual of the Albigeois, preserved in a Lyons Ms., see Conybeare, Key of Truth, App. vi. Cp. below, App. 6.]