THE SCENE: Is there a hint of admiration in William of Newburgh’s description of a heretic and his disciples who stood fast to their beliefs, even when it meant imprisonment and death?
THE TEXT: This demoniac proceeded to such a pitch, by the agency of the devil, that it was said that armies were frequently dispatched after him by princes, but in vain, to trace out and pursue him: but when sought he could not be found. At length, he was deprived of the aid of devils, when they were no longer permitted to domineer by means of him (for their power extends no further than the limits granted by superior powers at the discretion of God); he was taken prisoner, with little difficulty, by the archbishop of Reims, and the infatuated people who followed him were dispersed; but such of his disciples who kept closer to him, and were his coadjutors, were taken along with him.
When standing in the presence of the council, and asked by the pontiff who he was, he replied, “I am Eun, who is to come to judge both the quick and the dead, and the world by fire.” He held in his hand a staff of uncommon form, and forked at top; and being asked the meaning of this, he said, “It is a matter of great mystery; as long as it points to heaven with its two forks, as you see in its present state, God possesses two parts of the world, and yields the third to me; again, if I incline the two forks of the stick to the earth, and elevate the lower part, which is single, towards heaven, retaining two portions of the world to myself, I shall only leave the third to God.” At this the whole assembly laughed, and derided a man so completely given up to a reprobate mind.
Being ordered by a decree of the council to be closely confined, lest his excesses should gain ground again, he survived but a short time. His disciples, however, whom he had signalized with pompous names, calling one Wisdom, another Knowledge, a third Judgment, and the rest in like manner; when they were incapable of sound doctrine, and rather boasted of these false appellations, to such a degree, that he who was called Judgment threatened in vain confidence the severest vengeance on his detainers — being delivered over first to the law, and then to the flames, preferred the stake to a change of life. I have heard from a venerable character, who was present at those proceedings, that he heard him who was called Judgment, when being conducted to execution, repeatedly exclaim, “Earth, divide thyself,” as if at his command the earth would open and swallow up his enemies, like Dathan and Abiram. Such is the power of error, when it once has gotten hold of the heart.
– History of English Affairs, William of Newburgh, 12th Century AD
