Bogomilism

The Bogomils are described as a dualist religious movement partly derived from the Paulicians, whose beliefs and supposed historical connections become material for a speculative reconstruction of the Templars’ movements. In Diotallevi’s version of the Plan, they might have succeeded the Paulicians in the Balkans, but their later history makes the proposed route uncertain rather than confirmed.

Identity and Beliefs

In a discussion of medieval dissenting groups, Diotallevi says that the Bogomils were partly derived from the Paulicians. He attributes to them a striking account of Christ’s passage through Mary, which he presents as an extension of the Paulicians’ rejection of ordinary Christian doctrines. These descriptions are conveyed as reports about heretical groups, not as independently verified accounts of Bogomil practice.

The surrounding discussion situates such movements in a landscape of religious and political conflict. Diotallevi describes the Paulicians as a community that grew into a political force and faced imperial military opposition; the Bogomils appear within this broader history of dualist heresy. The passage thus connects Bogomil belief to a lineage of dissent, while also showing how hostile reports and polemical claims shape the historical picture.

Place in the Plan

The Bogomils acquire a second, explicitly conjectural role when Diotallevi tries to explain how the Templars’ supposed network might have crossed Europe. He considers them the natural successors of the Paulicians and imagines a group in the Balkans serving as the fifth link on a route from Germany toward Jerusalem. In this reconstruction, the sixth appointment would be at the sacred stone in Jerusalem, while the Balkan connection would bridge the route to it.

That proposed chain depends on hindsight. Diotallevi argues that the Templars of Provins could not have anticipated that Bulgaria would later be invaded by the Turks and remain under their rule for five centuries. The Plan therefore appears to have been interrupted between Germany and Bulgaria; Diotallevi assigns the break to 1824. The claim belongs to the characters’ pattern-making reconstruction, not to established history.

Narrative Significance

The Bogomils help make the Plan seem geographically continuous: a group associated with earlier dualist heresy can be placed between Germany and Jerusalem and made to carry the imagined secret onward. Yet the explanation also exposes the reconstruction’s dependence on retrospective selection. Diotallevi’s account turns a complex religious history into a convenient link, then uses later political change to explain why the link failed. The Bogomils consequently mark both the Plan’s apparent explanatory reach and its reliance on conjecture.