During the Black Death of 1349, thousands of penitents marched across Europe in organised processions, whipping themselves twice a day in public, and preaching anti-clerical sermons. The movement was banned within months by?
Clement VI banned the *Brethren of the Cross* — the flagellants — in October 1349. The movement had grown into a parallel religious authority, distributing forgiveness without clerical mediation and producing several anti-clerical and increasingly anti-Jewish pogroms across the Rhineland in 1348–49. Clement himself spent the worst of the Black Death sitting in a chamber between two large fires on his physician's instructions and survived. Charles IV was the secular ruler of the Holy Roman Empire but had no jurisdiction over Catholic doctrinal questions. The Patriarch of Constantinople led the Eastern Orthodox church — separate institution since 1054. The University of Paris was a theological authority but did not issue binding decrees.
Read the full story →In the summer of 1349 thousands of penitents marched through plague-stricken Europe flogging themselves twice a day. The Pope banned them within months.
Related questions
- Which pope banned the flagellant movement during the Black Death?
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