The inquisitorial punishment of belief : a statistical analysis of the effects of social and theological beliefs in Peter Seila’s register of sentences (1241-2)

SHAW, Robert Laurence John, Tomáš HAMPEJS and David ZBÍRAL. The inquisitorial punishment of belief : a statistical analysis of the effects of social and theological beliefs in Peter Seila’s register of sentences (1241-2). In International Medieval Congress 2022, 4-7 July 2022, Leeds, UK. 2022.

Basic information

• Original name: The inquisitorial punishment of belief : a statistical analysis of the effects of social and theological beliefs in Peter Seila’s register of sentences (1241-2)
• Authors: SHAW, Robert Laurence John (826 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, guarantor, belonging to the institution), Tomáš HAMPEJS (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution) and David ZBÍRAL (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: International Medieval Congress 2022, 4-7 July 2022, Leeds, UK, 2022.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Presentations at conferences
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14210/22:00126801
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Keywords (in Czech): hereze; inkvizice; víra; rituál; Languedoc; Petr Seila; kataři; valdenští; trest; pokání
• Keywords in English: heresy; inquisition; belief; ritual; Languedoc; Peter Seila; Cathars; Waldensians; punishment; penance
• Tags: rivok
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

How much did inquisitors actually consider the specifics of the beliefs voiced by alleged religious dissidents in judging guilt? While one might presume that this was a central consideration, it is a relatively common historiographical view that early inquisitors were much more interested in actions - especially ritual actions - than actual statements of belief, and that the latter only gradually gained weight in the minds of those repressing heresy. This paper seeks to put this theory to the test, by subjecting the record of one of the earliest inquisitions - the register of Peter Seila’s inquisition in the Quercy region of Languedoc (1241-2) - to computational analyses. WIth every sentence of the register captured as structured data via Computer-Assisted Semantic Text Modelling (CASTEMO), the relationship between crimes (including beliefs) and penances was evaluated by way of Qualitative Comparative Analysis and multiple regression modelling. The results show that, while ritual actions appear the most powerful drivers of punishment, strong theological statements of belief generated harsher penances than positive social views concerning dissident ministers or their general potential to save souls.

Links

• 101000442, interní kód MU: Name: Networks of Dissent: Computational Modelling of Dissident and Inquisitorial Cultures in Medieval Europe (Acronym: DISSINET)

Investor: European Union, ERC (Excellent Science)