Power & Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy

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Summary: Catharism in Medieval Italy
Review: With exceptional clarity Professor Carol Lansing profiles the lives and underlying social climate facing everyday Cathars in the medieval town of Orvieto. Scavenging from a paucity of first-hand documentation, Professor Lansing skillfully weaves together a factual vista, based on anecdotal testimonies researched in Italian archives, on medieval Cathar life in Italy. The book is enjoyable to read on a number of fronts, above all, Lansing writes in a factual yet entertaining manner. There are a number of historical curiosities that grace the pages. Far from exercising a categorically defined homogenous faith system Lansing portrays Cathar life in Medieval Orvieto as a heterogeneous community comprising a varying and often contradictory belief system that combined forms of Manichean dualism along with Apostolic Christianity as well as strong Catholic influences. It seems there was an important cleft in degrees of religious belief and practice that separated lay Cathars from Perfects who appeared to epitomize the full faith of Catharism in docrtrine and praxis. Power and Purity is a fascinating read that provides a valuable contribution to this rare and often overlooked historical subject.