Inquisition in the Fourteenth Century: The Manuals of Bernard Gui and Nicholas Eymerich

Heresy and Inquisition in the Middle Ages #7

by Derek Hill

An investigation of two manuals of inquisition reveals much about the practice in action.

The Inquisition played a central role in European history. It moulded societies by enforcing religious and intellectual unity; it helped develop the judicial and police techniques which are the basis of those used today; and it helped lay the foundations for the persecution of witches. An understanding of the Inquisition is therefore essential to the late medieval and early modern periods.
This book looks at how the philosophy and practice of Inquisition developed in the fourteenth century. It saw the proliferation of heresies defined by the Church (notably the Spiritual Franciscans and Beguines) and the classifcation of many more magical practices as heresy.The consequentialwidening of the Inquisition's role in turn led to it being seen as an essential part of the Church and the guardian of all the Church's doctrinal boundaries; the inclusion of magic in particular also changed the Inquisition's attitude towards suspects, and the use of torture became systematised and regularised.
These changes are charted here through close attention to the inquisitorial manuals of Bernard Gui and Nicholas Eymerich, using other sourceswhere available. Gui's and Eymerich's personalities were important factors. Gui was a successful insider, Eymerich a maverick, but Eymerich's work had the greater long-term influence. Through them we can see the Inquisition in action.

DEREK HILL gained his PhD from the University of London.

262 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2019

About the author

DEREK HILL is the author of Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers (Kamera Books), a study of the films of Charlie Kaufman, Richard Linklater, David O. Russell, Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, and others. His book on the films of Terry Gilliam from Schaffner Press as well as Peter Jackson: Interviews (in which he served as editor) as part of the University of Mississippi’s Conversations with Filmmakers series are both forthcoming. He has contributed to the Directory of World Cinema: Japan and Directory of World Cinema: American Independent (Intellect), Little White Lies magazine, and to a number of print and online publications. He is also a movie reviewer for the Athens, Georgia alternative newsweekly Flagpole, contributing editor/movie critic for the online arts journal Sinescope, and reviews books for Mystery Scene magazine.