Apostolic Brethren

The Apostolic Brethren, also known as the Pseudo Apostles, were a radical heretical movement that emerged in late 13th-century Italy, founded by Gherardo Segarelli in Parma. In The Name of the Rose, the sect's violent history and its leader Fra Dolcino cast a long shadow over the abbey, directly implicating two of its monks and serving as a central example in the novel's exploration of heresy, poverty, and the dangerous fusion of spiritual idealism with temporal rebellion.

Origins and Early History

The sect began with Gherardo Segarelli, who exhorted all to a life of penitence, crying "Penitenziagite!" through the streets. He enjoined his disciples to imitate the apostles, living as poor beggars on alms alone. Segarelli's followers were accused of denying the authority of priests and the celebration of Mass, and of being idle vagabonds. He was eventually burned as an impenitent heretic at the beginning of the 14th century. The movement was then taken up by Fra Dolcino, a priest's bastard from the Novara diocese, who was educated in letters but stole from the priest who housed him and fled eastward to Trent. There, he resumed Segarelli's preaching in a more heretical vein, declaring himself the only true apostle of God and that everything should be common in love, including the licit lying with all women.

The Dolcinian Revolt and Its Suppression

Dolcino gathered more than a thousand followers and began a long march back to the Novara region, where he found a situation favorable to his revolt. The vassals governing the town of Gattinara for the Bishop of Vercelli had been driven out by the populace, who welcomed Dolcino's outlaws as allies. Dolcino and his followers, now three thousand strong, camped on a hill near Novara known as Bald Mountain, building hovels and fortifications. From there, he sent letters expounding his heretical doctrine, declaring that the Roman church was a whore and that only his sect represented the new church. The sect began sacking villages in the valley, waging outright war against nearby towns. The Bishop of Vercelli appealed to Pope Clement V, and a crusade was called against the heretics. After a harsh winter and constant clashes, Dolcino was forced to abandon Bald Mountain and entrench himself on a mountain called Zubello, later known as Rubello or Rebello. The rebels were eventually forced to surrender, and Dolcino and his followers were captured. Dolcino, his companion Margaret of Trent, and his lieutenant Longinus were taken to Biella and handed over to the bishop. The Pope ordered them put to death. In July 1307, the heretics were placed in a wagon and carried through the entire city. At every corner, men with red-hot pincers tore the flesh of the guilty. Margaret was burned first, before Dolcino, who did not move a muscle of his face. Dolcino underwent other torments, and when they amputated his male member he emitted a long sigh. He was then burned and his ashes scattered in the wind.

Role in the Abbey's Crimes

In the novel, the Apostolic Brethren's history is directly tied to the abbey's present. The cellarer, Remigio of Varagine, and his assistant Salvatore are revealed to have been members of Dolcino's band on Bald Mountain. They fled together after the sect's defeat and eventually joined the Cluniac order. Remigio had been entrusted with letters from Dolcino, which he kept for years, eventually hiding them in the library with the help of the librarian Malachi. When the inquisitor Bernard Gui arrives, he uses Salvatore's confession to expose Remigio's past, forcing a confession that links the heretical ideas of the Dolcinians to the crimes in the abbey. Bernard Gui's strategy is to conflate the Dolcinians' violent rebellion with the Franciscan order's theological position on poverty, thereby discrediting the imperial legation. The sect's history thus becomes a weapon in the political and theological conflict between the Pope and the Emperor, demonstrating how the church used the memory of heretical violence to suppress dissent.