First major survey of the German inquisitor Petrus Zwicker, one of the most significant figures in the repression of heresy. In the final years of the fourteenth century, waves of persecution shattered German-speaking Waldensian communities, with the scale of inquisitions matching or even greater than the better-known trials in southern France. In the middle of the persecution was the influential and enigmatic figure of the Celestine provincial and inquisitor of heresy, Petrus Zwicker (d.after 1404). His surviving texts and inquisition protocols offer a fresh, intriguing picture of the medieval repression of heresy. Zwicker was an accurate and intelligent interrogator with direct access to the Waldensians' sources and knowledge. But although he is one of the most effective inquisitors of the MiddleAges, he was even more important as the author of anti-heretical texts. His Cum dormirent homines became a standard work on Waldensianism in the fifteenth century (and this study attributes another anti-heretical treatise,the Refutatio errorum, to him). With his unique biblicist and pastoral style, Zwicker struck the right note at a moment when the Church was in crisis. His texts spread rapidly, they were preached to the people and translated into German, and helped to build the fear of heresy, anti-clericalism and disobedience in the years of the Great Western Schism. This book is the first full-length study on Zwicker and his significance to the history of heresy and its repression. It offers a meticulous analysis of the sources left by him and teases out new, ground-breaking discoveries from careful examination of previously poorly known manuscripts. Dr REIMA VALIMAKI isa postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Cultural History, University of Turku
Reviews
[It is] packed with detail and nuanced arguments to which a brief review cannot fully do justice. [...] It is an impressive, elegantly written and argued book that is deeply grounded in primary source evidence and broad, multi-lingual second reading. * NOTTINGHAM MEDIEVAL STUDIES *
[A] major book. . . . [It] stimulates great engagement and is highly recommended. -- Robert E. Lerner * Speculum *
Petrus Zwicker is not one of the medieval Inquisitors who enjoys a high name recognition factor . . . Nevertheless, as Reima Valimaki demonstrates, he was a figure of considerable interest and importance in his own day and beyond. * Sixteenth Century Journal *



Book Information
ISBN 9781903153864
Author Dr Reima Valimaki
Format Hardback
Page Count 352
Imprint York Medieval Press
Publisher York Medieval Press
Weight(grams) 1g