HIST 304 - Seminar on Medieval Heresy and Inquisition

Credits: 3 The advent of heresy in the medieval west spurred major developments in law and legal procedure, many of which found their way to the practice of Western law today. But its most memorable practice, inquisition, is better remembered as a blood-thirsty and irrational institution that preyed upon free-thinking. What was heresy? Who defined it and why, after a hiatus of almost 500 years, did it all of a sudden seem to appear on the horizon in the 11th century? This course explores this turbulent but arguably creative moment in the history of Western culture and consider techniques of power, the creation of in-groups and out-groups, gender, literacy, politics, reform and revolt, and the nature of religious practice. FDR: HU Vise.

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