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Flagellant

The Flagellants were a 13th and 14th century Christian movement. A militant pilgrimage, later condemned as heretical, followers were noted for including public flagellation in their rituals.

Flagellation was a not uncommon practice amongst the more fervent religious, for example the 11th century zealot Dominicus Loricatus once repeated the entire Psalter twenty times in one week, accompanying each psalm with a hundred lash-strokes to his back. The distinction of the Flagellants was to take this self-mortification into the cities and other public spaces as a demonstration of piety. As well as flagellation the rituals were built around processions, hymns, distinct gestures, uniforms, and discipline.

In modern times, it has been speculated that the more extreme practices of mortification of the flesh may have been used to obtain altered states of consciousness for the goal of experiencing religious experiences or visions.

The movement did not have a central doctrine or overall leaders, popular passion for the movement occurred all over Europe in separate outbreaks. The first recorded incident was in Perugia in 1259, it spread from there across northern Italy and thence into Austria. Other incidents are recorded in 1296, 1333-34 (the Doves), notably at the time of the Black Death (1349), and 1399. The nature of the movement grew from a popular interest in relgion combined with a dissatisfaction with the Church's control.

The prime cause of the Perugia episode is unclear, but it followed on from an outbreak of the Plague and chroniclers report how the mania spread throughout almost all the people of the city. Citizens gathered in great processions, singing and with crosses and banners, they marched throughout the city whipping themselves. It is reported that suprising acts of charity and repentance accompanied the marchers. However, one chronicler noted that anyone who did not join in the flagellation was accused of being in league with the devil. The movement spread across northern Itlay, up to 10,000 strong groups processing in Modena, Bologna, Reggio[?] and Parma although certain city authorities refused the Flagellant processions entry. However enthusiasm for the movement diminshed as suddenly as it arose and the Pope banned the movement in January 1261, as the movement lost momentum in Italy it crossed into Austria and then Germany where the same pattern happened.

The peak of the activity was during the Black Death, then called the Great Death, which began around 1347. Spontaneously Flagellant groups arose across northern and central Europe in 1349, except in England. The German and Low Countries movemment, the Brothers of the Cross, is particularly well documented - they wore white robes and marched across Germany in 33.5 day campaigns of penance, stopping in any one place for no more than a day. They established their camps in fields near towns and held their rituals twice a day. The ritual began with the reading of a letter, claimed to have been delivered by an angel and justifying the Flagellants activities. Next the followers would fall to their kness and scourge themselves, gesturing with their free hand to indicate their sin and striking themselves rhytmically to hymns until blood flowed.

Initially the Catholic Church tolerated the Flagellants and individual monks and priests joined in the early movements. By the 14th century the Church was less tolerant and the rapid spread of the movement was alarming, Clement VI offcially condemned then in a bull of October 20, 1349 and instructed Church leaders in suppress the Flagellants. This position was reinforced in 1372 by Gregory XI who associated the Flagellants with other heretical groups, notably the Beghards. They were accused of heresies including doubting the need for the sacrements, denying ordinary ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and claiming to work miracles.

Strongly put down, the concept did not arise again until 1399, again in northern Italy. This rising it said to have been started by a peasant who saw a vision and the movement became known as the laudesi from their constant hymn singing. At its peak a group of over 15,000 adherents gathered in Modena but the movement rapidly faded when one of its leaders was burned in Rome.

The Inquisition was active against any revival of the movement in the 15th century, two groups totalling over a hundred were burned in Germany in 1414. Other trials were the accused were condemned as Flagellants were recorded as late as the 1480s. The practice of flagellation within the bounds of the Catholic Church continued as an accepted form of penance.