Friar John of Schwenkenfeld O.P. and the Interrogations of the Hooded Nuns of Świdnica in 1332

Paweł Kras (Centre for Medieval Studies, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin)

In research on the views of the Free Spirit and their reception among beguines, an important place is occupied by the record of interrogations on the life and mores of the Hooded Nuns of Świdnica (Germ. Schweidnitz) which took place between 8 and 12 September 1332. In the unanimous opinion of researchers who have ever studied this protocol, it is a unique source as it provides a lot of detailed, often intimate information about the functioning of this small community of beguines both before and after the publication of the Decree Ad nostrum, promulgated by the Council of Vienne in 1312. In fact, the Świdnica protocol is the only such extensive and detailed record of testimonies concerning the beguines community which until 1332 survived in its original form, undisturbed by the provisions of Ad nostrum. The trial was conducted by John of Schwenkenfeld acting papal inquisitor in the diocese of Wrocław, and at the same time lector at the Świdnica Dominican friary.

Fifty years ago, Robert E. Lerner in his magisterial study on the Heresy of the Free Spirit analyzed the content of the 1332 protocol and demonstrated the dominant role of the papal inquisitor who conducted interrogations, as well as supervised production of their records. He was also the first historian who not only worked with the nineteenth-century edition, based upon the fifteenth century copy (currently preserved in the Archives of the Krakow Cathedral Chapter, Ms AKKK LA 37), but also examined the original notarial instrument with the records of the 1332 interrogations which luckily have survived in the Vatican Library under the catalogue number Vat. Lat. 13119a, though were found as late as 1950s. In the years 2015-2017, the work on the new critical edition of the protocol enabled Tomasz Gałuszka O.P. to identify over 500 places in the Vatican manuscript which have different readings from the Krakow copy. Most of these differences are technical in nature and do not affect the content of the testimonies recorded. There are, however, a number of omissions in the text and very significant spelling differences that change the meaning of the text.

The protocol of the 1332 investigation covers the inquisitorial proceedings and other actions taken by the inquisitor. All deponents were Germans and the questioning was held in German. Their testimonies were collected and written down by assistant notary, revised by Schwenkenfeld, and finally recorded in the notarial instrument. During the work on the official register all testimonies were translated from German into Latin. Only a few German words were left to describe items that – according to the notary’s knowledge – had no proper equivalents in Latin. In the Latin protocol, with a few exceptions, the inquisitor’s questions were removed and the statements were edited based on Schwenkenfeld’s interrogatory used during the interrogations. The notary left some questions only in a few places.

My paper is intended to present challenges experienced during the editorial work on the 1332 protocol which has revealed the multifaceted process of producing records of heresy trial.