Flagellents of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Their Rise and Decline

Abstract

In the year 1260 a mass penitential movement began in the Italian city of Perugia. Thousands of people, known as Flagellants, whipped themselves publicly in a desperate attempt to ward off the judgment of an angry God. Ninety years later, in Germany, the Sect of the Flagellants was revived in an unprecedented thrust of enthusiasm. The thirteenth century penitents were greeted with Church approval and popular veneration. 'Ihe Flagellants of the next century were branded heretics and persecuted out of existence. By examining contemporary social, political and religious conditions, this study evaluates the reasons for the rise and decline of the Flagellant movement.