Document Type:
Article
Author/editor:
Adam L. Hoose
 
Standard: Hoose, Adam L. [Adam L. Hoose]
Title:
Durán of Huesca (c. 1160-1230) : A Waldensian Seeking a Remedy to Heresy

Standard:

Periodical:
Journal of Religious History
Series:
38
Issue:
2
Date of Publication:
June 2014
Pages:
173-189
URL:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9809.2013.01261.x/abstract
Subjects:
Catholic Poor
Durand of Huesca - Attitude towards the Cathars
Durand of Huesca - Liber antiheresis

Summary/Notes:

Despite the debates about the nature of medieval heresy, especially the Cathars and the Waldensians, in recent scholarship, very little attention has been given to Durán of Huesca, a Spanish Waldensian who wrote two anti-heretical treatises before and after he was reconciled with the Roman Church in 1207. This article examines how Durán's decisions to join the Waldensians and later to return to the Catholic Church were motivated by his commitment to defending the sacraments and the Incarnation against what he saw as dualist heresy. That his major decisions were in response to this heresy suggests that while old scholarship might overemphasise the cohesiveness of heresy in the south of France, it is important not to dismiss the existence of explicit heretical belief altogether. Moreover, the centrality of the Incarnation and the sacraments in Durán's shifts in association reveals that the Waldensians were active, rather than passive, participants in shaping how the Church hierarchy and other dissident groups perceived and categorised them.