Part of the origins of witchcraft lie with the man we know as Valdés of Lyon. Valdés lived in France in the twelfth century and was an itinerant preacher who lived a life of holy simplicity. His name also has a connection to the origin of the term “witch” and so is part of the origins of witchcraft.
This might, at first, appear strange. For one, in most popular depictions, witches are female. Likewise, we associate witches as living in opposition to Christianity, not practicing it themselves as exemplars of virtue. Supposedly, they gain power through arcane means and links with demonic forces, at least in popular portrayals. Finally, we associate witches with the night and darkness. Christianity, however, draws associations with light. The Christian day of worship is Sun Day, after all.
How Valdés Connect to the Origins of Witchcraft?
How does one explain the contradictions, then? Let’s start with a little more on the life of Valdés of Lyon. According to stories, he was a wealthy man who gained his wealth by what were, at the time, shady methods. In 1173, in a classic about face, he became convinced of the sinfulness of his life, decided to give up his wealth (although he did provide for his wife and children), embarked upon a life of poverty, and traveled throughout central and southern France trying to live free of sin while preaching to others to do the same. Although the part about Valdés of Lyon gaining wealth by underhanded methods might have been a later fabrication to make the power of his conversion seem more dramatic, documentation asserts the truthfulness of the rest.
Soon, he gained followers. Inspired by his preaching and holy lifestyle, people either traveled with him or supported his preaching. Valdés of Lyon was particularly worried about combating heresy, which southern France had an abundance of at the time. Southern France was a hotbed of the heresy known as Catharism. In 1209, Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, and it lasted until 1229. (The Cathars were heretics because they believed all worldly things were sinful. Because God would never allow bad things to happen to faithful people, yet, clearly, bad things happened to faithful people, they concluded that Satan must hold sway over Earth rather than God. Therefore, all worldly things were the work of Satan, which included the organized Church. No wonder Innocent decided it was time for a crusade.)
This would, on the surface, seem to make Valdés a popular figure with the Church. It wanted to uproot heresy. He did, too. However, the opposite happened. This begins to explain the association of his name with the origins of witchcraft.
Please Click Here to Subscribe to My History Blog!
The Downfall of Valdés
The problem lay in the lifestyle of Valdés and his followers. In their lives of holy simplicity and poverty, exhorting and preaching the need to live according to scripture, they ran afoul of powerful people. Partly, this was because they made religious leaders, with their relative wealth and privilege, look bad in comparison. Valdés looked a lot closer to godliness than a portly bishop living a life of ease and study.
More than that, however, it was the preaching of Valdés that got him into trouble. But why? He could quote scripture as well as any church leader, and he lived out his preaching through his lifestyle. The answer is that he was not a member of the clergy. Clergymen believed that only trained minds, ordained to preach and teach the meaning of scripture, should be preaching. If an untrained novice like Valdés sought to teach the public, he may well lead the public astray. Clergy must avoid this at any cost. The souls of the faithful and everlasting life in Heaven were at risk.
The Council of Verona and the Origins of Witchcraft
As a result, the Council of Verona (1184) identified Valdés and his supporters as schismatics and heretics in the decree Ab abolendam (In Order to Abolish). Despite their holy lifestyle, Valdés and friends faced excommunication from the church followed by repression. Their name, Vaudois in French, Waldensian in English, was now no better than that of the Cathars.
This became important because their way of life, and the name associated with it, never went extinct in Europe. Under different names and guises, the Waldensian lifestyle persisted for centuries. But because they never codified their beliefs, “Waldensian” or “Vaudois” became blanket terms for anyone with heretical beliefs.
Now, move forward in time a bit to the 1400s. With the Church authorities increasingly worried about people conspiring with the Devil to threaten Christianity, they sometimes fell back on familiar terms. So, for instance, when thirty-four people went on trial for witchcraft in the French city of Arras between 1459 and 1462, inquisitors accused them of “attendance at the synagogue of the Vaudois.” (Note, in a further blend of religious fearmongering, this phrase not only associates witches with an earlier heretical group, it also associates them with Judaism through use of the word synagogue.) Other inquisitors picked up the term as the ideas of witchcraft and the origins of witchcraft gained visibility in late-medieval Europe. Soon, images depicted witches flying to sabbaths on broomsticks (something we first see in the 1440 work Le Champion des Dames by Martin le Franc) and worshiping the devil.
Unfair as it may be, that is how the name of a Christian ascetic became part of the origins of witchcraft. Valdés of Lyon certainly deserves better, but at least we remember his name for something?
Please Subscribe!
If you enjoyed this blog, please sign up to follow it by scrolling down or clicking here, and recommending it to your friends. I’d love to have you aboard! You can also follow me on Facebook by clicking here.
As always, I welcome constructive and polite discussion in the comments section. Thank you!