12th Century

A period of increased popular piety, the 12th century featured the formation of many new religious orders. Established primarily as a means to promote reform in the church, and to fit the demands of believers who sought out a heightened individual spiritual life, reform orders became one of the primary weapons used by the Church to combat heresy. Designed as grassroots organizations, much like their heretical counterparts, these groups aimed to win believers back to the Catholic faith. However, it was many of these same orders who would become the biggest disseminators of heretical belief. As the medieval period progressed, the Church raised concerns about Christian order's right to preach and the orthodoxy of their followers. To begin, the 12th century was a period of renewed religious zeal. As individual bodies of believers began seeking out a more popular based religion, the Church utilized these same orders to combat heresy. One such order, the Dominicans, were a group of mendicant friars who adopted a way of
The Church relied on a 'licensing' system where those who were educated as part of the clergy would be permitted to preach. Where the Church was concerned was with the laity's potential to diseminate beliefs that were simply not part of the orthodox cannon, especially if they had not provided an affirmation of faith or received proper education. Such was the rationality behind denying Peter Waldes and his order's request to preach their message. With Church power in such a precarious position between the investiture conflict, the great Schism, the East-West schism etc; the Church could not afford to allow more of its followers to stray. What is ironic is the fact that this ban on preaching was the precise reason why the Waldensian order became radicalized