Note 389 — Chapter V · POLITICAL HERESY UTILIZED BY THE STATE. (continued 3)

Le Brun de Charmettes, IV. 102-4, 106.—Procès, p. 506.

In considering the verdict of the University and the Inquisition it must be borne in mind that visions of the Saviour, the Virgin, and the Saints were almost every-day occurrences, and were recognized and respected by the Church. The spiritual excitability of the Middle Ages brought the supernatural world into close relations with the material. For a choice collection of such stories see the Dialogues of Cæsarius of Heisterbach. As a technical point of ecclesiastical law, moreover, Joan’s visions had already been examined and approved by the prelates and doctors at Chinon and Poitiers, including Pierre Cauchon’s metropolitan, Renaud, Archbishop of Reims.