Heretical refugees and persecution of German Waldensians, 1393–1400

Abstract

ABSTRACT Historians of heresy and inquisition in late medieval German-speaking central Europe have long discussed the mobility and initiative of prosecutors – episcopal or mendicant inquisitors – as one of the main factors behind the intensification of anti-heretical activity during the 1390s and the early years of the fifteenth century. However, the mobility of heretical refugees produced by these inquisitions also constituted an important factor that helped to perpetuate anti-heretical violence. This article examines late medieval refugees by looking at two case studies involving individuals who left their home towns during the period of intensified persecutions of German Waldensians in the 1390s. Their itineraries demonstrate that Waldensian followers knew of the heretical communities in other cities and reveal the effect the refugees had on their host communities. Waldensian refugees contributed to destabilising local communities or attracting inquisitorial attention, which stoked religious violence and caused further waves of displacement.