Dal carnalis concubitus all’heretica pravitate. Sesso, matrimonio ed eresia nel tribunale di Jacques Fournier (1318-1325)

Abstract

Love, sex, and marriage are recurring themes in inquisition records of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and especially in the register of Jacques Fournier, bishop-inquisitor of Pamiers from 1318 to 1325. The significance of these confessions cannot be understood without indicating the ecclesiastical authority’s interest: adultery, incest and homosexual relations of the accused are in fact mediated by Fournier within a court that superimposes episcopal and inquisitorial competences. Linking licentious conducts and libertine statements to the anti-matrimonial tenets of the Cathars, the bishop establishes, during the trial, a connection between sexual sin and heretical crime. Any transgression of the sacred space of marriage is understood to be an indication sign of heresy and contributes to depict a dissolute and vicious portrait of the heretical believers, which is ultimately functional to the success and popularity of repression.

Keywords

• Cathars
• heresy
• inquisition
• women
• sexuality
• sin