Beschreibung:
Heretical Movements and Social Rootlessness in the Late Middle Ages This survey article deals with two aspects of the social and ideological crisis of the Lower Middle Ages that historians have often separated : the rootlessness of marginal groups and the spread of heresy, in which opposition to the established order figured prominently at the time. This connection is obvious for several reasons : the geographical mobility of heretics closely resembles that of social drop-outs ; certain places, such as taverns, forges and mills, served as centers both for the spread of heterodoxy and for social deviance. Marginal groups and heretic groups present comparable patterns of sociability and solidarity ; both phenomena were marked in this period by significant rural participation. However, some regional differences must be noted : sometimes heresy recruited among artisans, especially weavers. In such cases its followers were considerably less wretched than the ecclesiastical controversy suggests.