The rise of heresy in France was a major concern of bishops and priests during the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Lengthy and sustained campaigns were fought to uphold the teaching of the Catholic Church especially in southern France, where heretics had gained considerable ground. Philip maintained that lands which had once belonged to the Church had been invaded by heretics and that the devil flourished among the Romans, the Albigensians and the Milanese (pp. 102–3). One of the figures drawn into this movement from the middle of the twelfth century was the celebrated abbot of the Clairvaux, St Bernard, who expatiated upon the perils of heresy in his classical text, the commentary on The Song of Songs, which referred to the damage inflicted upon the Church. Diego, bishop of Osma, was sent to France on a matrimonial legation with Dominic of Caleruega. On their journey they passed through Toulouse, where they observed that the local populace was strongly wedded to heretical ways, according to Jordan of Saxony. This experience moved Dominic to form the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) to combat heresy in southern France. This new religious order grew side by side with its contemporary, the Friars Minor or Cordeliers, who also trained their sights on heretics. The two new mendicant orders were soon drafted into this war to tackle heresy. Francis of Assisi’s Regula bullata, which was approved by Honorius iii on 29 November 1223, tested aspirants’ faith and the Catholic teaching on the seven sacraments.

This volume contains sermons against heresy and it is centred on the nine sermons preached by Philip the Chancellor and Eudes of Châteauroux. Eight of them were given between 1226 and 1231 by Philip and the remaining one by Eudes between February and September 1226. Five of the nine homilies were delivered in Paris. The two co-editors of this volume have already distinguished themselves by their elucidation of preaching in France during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and its impact on heresy in particular (L’Avènement des maîtres de la parole: la prédication a Paris au siècle XIIIe and Les Sermons et la visite pastorale de Federico Visconti archevêque de Pise (1253–77) and the battle against heresy (Preaching the crusades: mendicant friars and the cross in the thirteenth century and Crusade propaganda and ideology: model sermons for the preaching of the Cross). Five of the homilies were located at different venues. The fine introduction starts with biographical information on Philip the Chancellor and Eudes of Châteauroux, two indefatigable preachers, whose ministry spanned much of the thirteenth century. This substantial introduction is divided into eight sections: the introduction of the two authors of the sermons; the crusades against heresy; the crusade of 1226 against the Albigensians; the programme of sermons against heresy in northern France; manuscript texts and live sermons; manuscripts; previous editions and the principles of the edition and translation. Philip was the son of an archdeacon of Paris and appeared in the records of the diocese of Noyon. He was elected as the chancellor of Notre-Dame in Paris in 1217 and died in 1236. Eudes studied in Paris and became a master before the end of the 1220s. He, too, was a canon of Notre-Dame by 1234 and chancellor of the university between 1238 and 1244 before becoming the cardinal bishop of Frascati. These texts connect Eudes with the Albigensian crusades, which go back to the Third Lateran Council of 1179. He was appointed as the cardinal bishop of Frascati and played a significant role in the crusades, supporting Louis ix. Philip’s close ties with the emerging mendicant world are well documented; he was buried among the Cordeliers of the capital city. There is a single reference to the two new mendicant orders, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, in Paris, where Philip observed that the Cordeliers were strengthened by alms and the Dominicans were described as ‘the Order of Friars Preachers of St James’ (pp. 72–3).

The first three sermons were preached to students in Paris on 18 January 1226, 25 January 1226 and on 2 February 1226. The fourth was given in the presence of the king of France, Louis viii, and crusaders at Bourges on 17 May 1226. The fifth occurred at St-Victor in Paris on 21 August 1226 during a procession in aid of King Louis’s siege of Avignon. The seventh sermon on 20 March 1231 was probably proclaimed at Paris to members of the university. The eighth took place at the Synod of Laon on 20 May 1231. The ninth was for the laity at Bruyères-et-Montbérault on 21 May 1231. The sixth sermon was preached by Eudes for the recruitment of crusaders for the Albigensian Crusade of 1226 between February and September 1226. Philip contrasted the tepidity and weakness of the contemporary Church with its vitality in earlier days. Bishops were expected to take up arms against the Church’s adversaries and the growing number of heretics, but some of them were prone to cupidity, avarice and other vices. The accession of Innocent iii in 1198 brought a new energy and determination to the struggle, especially after the murder of the papal legate in 1208. Bishops who were slow to adopt the conciliar policies were removed from office. The French king and the papal legate Cardinal Romano of Sant’Angelo called the barons and bishops to the Council of Bourges in November 1225.

The homilies include echoes of the decisions of local provincial synods and councils (Laon, Reims and Bourges). Philip mentions recent and contemporary events, such as the reference to the poor men of Lyon (pp. 117–18), the capture of Avignon (pp. 69, 79), Echard the baker of Reims whose followers preached covertly (pp. 103, 119, 177). The customary processions took place on Fridays, especially during Passiontide (pp. 68–9). The council of Reims set its face against the suggestion that the Scriptures should be translated into French (pp. 104–5). The French king and the papal legate, Cardinal Romano of Sant’ Angelo, invited the barons and the bishops to discuss the Crusade. Just before Louis viii took the cross the cardinal legate excommunicated Raymond vii of Toulouse for his leniency towards heretics. A call to penance and prayer had been issued to face the dangers of the present. Constantinople had fallen and, more recently, Damietta was lost at a time when victory had been in sight. Princes and prelates quarrelled among themselves. Philip observed that kings and princes had their woods and forests containing deer, goats and rabbits, which denote the faithful. Sometimes Philip employed the vernacular: ‘Vulgariter dicitur: Mar est batuz qui plorer n’ose’ (pp. 4–5), ‘per caluariam, que dicitur Gallice hennepier significantur aliqui’ (p. 8) and ‘solet enim dici vulgariter, quando quid preciosum inuenitur pro levi pretio: inventio est!’ (p. 60).

This selection of sermons makes a valuable contribution to the examination of heresy in northern France between 1226 and 1231 and the response from the pulpit. These sermons will be of immense help in understanding the plight of the Church and its response. They augment our understanding of preaching in the early thirteenth century and the perennial problem of heresy and they provide an abundance of historical material. The sermons address teaching concerning auricular confession; the sacrament of penance was evolving in the late twelfth century. The preachers bewailed defective practices in the realm of penance, such as the customary discipline for the hearing of women’s confessions; some priests were hearing the confessions of women from other parishes (pp. 104–5). Philip devoted a section of his seventh sermon to ‘fraudulent confession’, including those who had fallen away from the sacraments. Some maintained that the faithful should confess their sins to each other (pp. 104–5). There were further lapses of discipline, particularly in the relationship between confession and the celebration of the eucharist. The practice of preaching after lunch is confirmed by one manuscript (p. xli). This volume is a fine translation with ample notes on complex passages. The two authors are to be warmly congratulated on the production of such a fine edition. The one disappointment is that the general index of names and places occupies fewer than two pages.