Beguines, Free Spirits, and the Inquisitorial Network Conundrum

Abstract

The so-called heresy of the Free Spirit is today considered the epitome of the religious construct produced by ecclesiastical authorities to legitimise persecution. By situating the trial and sentence of the visionary Na Prous Boneta within the context of papal legislation and inquisitorial actions related to beguines and Free Spirits, this article addresses the boundaries that the Church established between heretical transgressions. It also argues that it was the Church’s reliance on the inquisitorial process as a means to fight heresy that conditioned the shaping of all religious dissidence into sects.