Rule of the Dolcinians

The Rule of the Dolcinians, also called the Rule of the Apostles or the Pseudo Apostolic rule, was the heretical doctrine and way of life followed by the followers of Fra Dolcino and his predecessor Gherardo Segarelli in the early 14th century. It represented a radical, violent interpretation of evangelical poverty that rejected all ecclesiastical authority, advocated for the destruction of the clergy, and justified communal living, sexual license, and armed rebellion as means to usher in a new age of spiritual purity. The rule was a direct, militant outgrowth of the earlier Apostolic Brethren movement, transforming a call to penitence into a program of apocalyptic violence that terrified the established church and secular powers alike.

Origins and Preaching

The rule originated with Gherardo Segarelli of Parma, who began preaching in the late 13th century, exhorting all to a life of penitence with the cry "Penitenziagite!"—a corruption of "Penitentiam agite, appropinquabit enim regnum coelorum" ("Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"). Segarelli's followers, who called themselves the order of the Apostles, were to go through the world like poor beggars, living only on alms. They were accused of denying the authority of priests, the celebration of Mass, and confession, and of being idle vagabonds. Segarelli himself let his hair and beard grow, put sandals on his feet, and wore the rope of the Friars Minor, taking elements from the Franciscan order. He sold his house and flung the money to rogues dicing nearby, saying "Let him take who will." The rule was condemned by Pope Gregory X, and Segarelli was eventually burned at the stake as an impenitent heretic at the beginning of the 14th century.

Dolcino's Leadership and Doctrines

Fra Dolcino, a priest's bastard from the Novara diocese, resumed Segarelli's preaching in a more heretical vein. He declared himself the only true apostle of God and taught that everything should be common in love, and that it was licit to lie indiscriminately with all women, whereby no one could be accused of concubinage. 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. He camped on a hill near Novara known as Bald Mountain, building hovels and fortifications, and ruled over a throng of men and women who lived in what was described as the most shameful promiscuity. Dolcino sent letters to his faithful expounding his heretical doctrine. He said their ideal was poverty and they were not bound by any vow of external obedience, and that he had been sent by God to break the seals of the prophecies. He called secular clerics, preachers, and Minorites ministers of the Devil, and absolved everyone from the duty of obeying them. He identified four ages in the life of the people of God: the first was that of the Old Testament; the second was the age of Christ and the apostles; the third was when the popes accepted earthly riches; and the fourth, the present age, required following the teachings of the Apostles. Dolcino derived a perfidious syllogism from this: to bring to an end the third age of corruption, all the clergy, monks, and friars had to die a very cruel death. He declared that all prelates of the church, all clerics, nuns, religious male and female, all those belonging to the preaching orders and the Minorites, the hermits, and even Pope Boniface VIII had to be exterminated by the Emperor he had chosen, Frederick of Sicily.

Practices and Violence

The rule of the Dolcinians was not merely a set of beliefs but a way of life that led to extreme violence. Dolcino and his followers, now three thousand strong, sacked villages in the valley, raiding them to procure provisions and waging outright war against nearby towns. They hanged many faithful Christians, including an innocent child of ten, and hanged other men in the presence of their wives and parents. They captured followers of the bishops and starved some to death in prison, and cut off the arm and the hand of a woman with child. They set fire and razed to the ground the villages of Mosso, Trivero, Cossila, and Clecchia, and many other localities, burning churches after befouling sacred images, tearing tombstones from altars, breaking an arm of the statue of the Virgin, looting chalices and vessels and books, destroying spires, shattering bells, and seizing all the vessels of the confraternity and the possessions of the priest. The rule justified these acts as a means to punish and purify the impure through blood, to strike at the heart of the network of greed that extended from parish to parish. The Dolcinians believed they were the vanguard of the Emperor sent by heaven, hastening the descent of the angel of Philadelphia, when all would receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and the church would be renewed.

Suppression and Aftermath

The Bishop of Vercelli appealed to Pope Clement V, and a crusade was called against the heretics. A plenary indulgence was granted to anyone taking part, and Louis of Savoy, the inquisitors of Lombardy, and the Archbishop of Milan were prompt to act. After a harsh winter of famine, during which the Dolcinians ate the flesh of horses and other animals and boiled hay, and many died, the rebels were forced to surrender. Dolcino and his followers were captured, and they ended up on the pyre. Dolcino, Margaret of Trent, and Longinus were taken into the city of Biella and handed over to the bishop. The Pope ordered the bishop to put them to death. In July 1307, the heretics were handed over to the secular arm. As the bells of the city rang joyously, the heretics were placed in a wagon, surrounded by executioners, 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 remained silent, though when they amputated his nose he shrugged a bit, and when they tore off his male member he emitted a long sigh, like a groan. He was then burned and his ashes were scattered in the wind. The rule of the Dolcinians, though crushed, left a legacy of fear and served as a cautionary tale for the church, illustrating how the call to poverty could be twisted into a justification for violence and rebellion.