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Confraternities and the Inquisition: for and Against

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Confraternities and the Inquisition: for and Against Chapter 7 Confraternities and the Inquisition: For and Against Christopher F. Black 1 Introduction1 The interconnections between confraternities and inquisitions start in the 13th century, and thereafter were diverse, intermittent, friendly and hostile. As far as surviving documentary evidence indicates, not many confraternities were involved. Secrecy surrounding many confraternities could cause suspicion from ecclesiastical and civilian authorities, leading to denunciations. Secrecy similarly inhibits knowledge about those confraternities that supposedly as- sisted the inquisitions. Historians are impeded by the poor survival of both confraternal and inquisitorial records. More is currently known about the inter-connections between confraternities and inquisitions in northern and central Italy than in the Italian south, or in Iberia and the Spanish and Portu- guese colonies. Having written books and articles initially on Italian confra- ternities and later on the Inquisitions in Italy, I have a bias of knowledge and perspective towards them, but advice from colleagues and contacts dealing with Iberia as well as my sampling the historical secondary literature suggests that the interconnections in Iberia have, in fact, been under-studied. This may reflect the lack of information, but also different roles of confraternities and local inquisition tribunals in the Iberian world. The “For” in my sub-title covers those confraternities established to support local inquisitors, often embracing inquisition officials and “familiars”; the “Against” covers those confraternities that were denounced to inquisitors as needing investigation for heretical or suspicious practices, and harbouring religious dissidents. No confraternity de- liberately set out to undermine the Inquisition as such, but some did battle to resist intervention and control by a local inquisitor and tribunal. My concern in this chapter is primarily with the early modern period, from the late 15th to 18th centuries, when the centralised Inquisitions were estab- lished in Spain, Portugal, and Rome. However, it is worth first highlighting a 1 I am very grateful for Elena Sánchez de Madariaga’s guidance on matters Spanish, and for Anne Lawrence’s questioning and stylistic improvements. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���9 | doi:�0.��63/978900439�9�5_008 <UN> 134 Black medieval episode and a medieval inquisitor, Peter of Verona, better known as St Peter Martyr (1206–1252). An early disciple of St Dominic, member of the Dominican Order, educated at Bologna university, in 1232 Peter established a lay confraternity specifically to combat heresy. He was created an inquisi- tor in 1234 and pursued Manicheans and Cathars notably in Rome, Bologna, Florence, Genoa, Milan and Cremona. In April 1252 he was killed by a certain Carino, paid for by Cathars. A year later Pope Innocent iv canonised him. His early confraternity had already generated similar companies, but his martyr- dom and recognition as the second patron of the Inquisitions after St Dominic were lasting inspirations for confraternities founded to assist local inquisitors. Many were named after Peter, especially in Iberia from the early 16th century. With a cross prominently displayed on their formal garments, others, as in Italy, were named Crocesignati. Peter Martyr had also started confraternities or congregations of the Virgin, as in Milan (1232) and Florence (1245), which were also in part polemical anti-heresy organisations.2 Problems over Crocesignati confraternities in the 17th century will be discussed below. 2 Reasons Why Confraternities Might Come under Suspicion Lay confraternities in western Europe had been founded from early days to foster the spiritual life of the laity, to prepare members for a good death and speedy paths to heavenly salvation. Some fostered good works and charitable assistance for poor members and their dependents, possibly influenced by Byzantine concepts of hospitality and Jewish communal solidarity. One would expect church authorities, whether monastic or secular, to look with favour on such confraternities and not be too suspicious. In the early Middle Ages the older religious orders watched over lay confraternal offshoots, but by the 13th century lay confraternities were proliferating, some encouraged by the Dominicans, with limited clerical supervision, employing priests and curates 2 Christopher F. Black, Italian Confraternities of the Sixteenth Century (1989; repr. Cambridge: 2003), 26–27, 76–77; Black, “Confraternities and the Italian Inquisitions,” in Brotherhood and Boundaries. Fraternità e barriere, eds. Stefania Pastore, Adriano Prosperi and Nicholas Terp- stra (Pisa: 2011), 293–305, esp. 294, 299–304; Black, “Confraternite, Italia,” Dizionario Storico dell’Inquisizione, [hereafter dsi] (eds.) Adriano Prosperi, Vincenzo Lavenia and John Tedes- chi, 5 vols., (Pisa: 2009), 1:377–81; N.J. [Norman] Housley, “Politics and Heresy in Italy. Anti- heretical Crusades, Orders and Confraternities, 1200–1500,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 13 (1982), 193–208; Bruno Fietler, “Pietro Martire,” dsi 3:1209–1210; James E. Wadsworth, “Cel- ebrating St Peter Martyr: the Inquisitional Brotherhood in Colonial Brazil,” Latin American Historical Review 12 (2003), 173–227, esp. 174, 183–184. <UN>.
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