Fraticelli For the Win- A Heresy AAR
Playing CK2 has really ignited my interest in religion and especially heresies. One of the heresies that always stuck out to me was Fraticelli because I am seemingly offered to convert to it every ten years or so by an errant court chaplain. I have always been tempted to convert for the fun of it, but chose not too. Now I have decided to take a great leap forward and start the game as a Fraticelli!
But this is not just any random Fraticelli, this is the supposed founder of the Fraticelli sect, Angelo da Clareno. Let's get some background on the Fraticelli and Angelo straight from Wikipedia:
The Fraticelli ("Little Brethren") or Spiritual Franciscans were extreme proponents of the rule of Saint Francis of Assisi, especially with regard to poverty, and regarded the wealth of the Church as scandalous, and that of individual churchmen as invalidating their status. They were thus forced into open revolt against the whole authority of the Church and were declared heretical in 1296 by Boniface VIII.
The name Fraticelli is used for various heretical sects, which appeared in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, principally in Italy, that separated from the Franciscan Order on account of the disputes concerning poverty.
The origin of the Fraticelli and the cause of their growth within and without the Franciscan Order must be sought in the history of the Spirituals. It must suffice here to note that in consequence of St. Francis's severe requirements concerning the practice of poverty, his followers divided into two branches, the Zelanti, or Spirituals, and the Relaxati, known later as the Conventuals. The popes of the thirteenth century intervened to bring about harmony between the two factions, and Gregory IX, Innocent IV, and Nicholas III gave in their Bulls authoritative explanations of the points at issue. But the differences were not fully adjusted nor was unity ever completely restored between the Spirituals and the main body of the order, the Community (Fratres de Communitate).
The first Fraticelli group was begun by Brother Angelo da Clareno (or da Cingoli). Angelo and several brethren from the March of Ancona had been condemned (c. 1278) to imprisonment for life, but were liberated by the general of the order, Raimondo Gaufredi (1289–95) and sent to Armenia, where the king, Hethum II, welcomed them. The local clergy, however, were less enthusiastic, and following popular agitations against them they were exiled from Armenia towards the end of 1293.[2]
They returned to Italy, where in 1294 Celestine V, noted for his asceticism but whose pontificate lasted scarcely six months, willingly permitted them to live as hermits in the strict observance of the Rule of St. Francis. After the abdication of Celestine V, his successor, Boniface VIII, revoked all Celestine's concessions, and they emigrated to Greece, where some of them attacked the legality of the papal action. As the pope, through the Patriarch of Constantinople, caused active measures to be taken against them, they fled to Italy, where their leader, Fra Liberatus, attempted a vindication of their rights, first with Boniface VIII (d. 11 October 1303), and then with Benedict XI, who also died prematurely (7 July 1304). On his journey to Clement V (1305–14) at Lyon, Liberatus died (1307), and Angelo da Clareno succeeded to the leadership of the community. He remained in Central Italy until 1311, when he went to Avignon, where he was protected by his patrons Cardinals Giacomo Colonna and Napoleone Orsini Frangipani.
Early in 1317 John XXII, pursuant to a decree of Boniface VIII, declared Angelo excommunicated and placed him in custody. He defended himself ably in his "Epistola Excusatoria", representing himself as a zealous Franciscan, but John XXII refused to admit his plea, Angelo being a Celestine hermit, and in the decree "Sancta Romana et universalis ecclesia" (30 December 1317) refused to authorize the congregation of which Angelo was head.
Angelo submitted temporarily, but in 1318 fled to Central Italy, where, acting as Minister General, he assumed charge of the congregation dissolved by the pope. He appointed provincials, ministers and custodians, established new friaries, arrogated all authority, issued pastoral letters, and received novices—in a word, he founded an independent Franciscan Order, the Fraticelli.
His adherents professed themselves to be the original Friars Minor. They denied that John XXII was really pope, as he had abrogated the Rule of St. Francis, which, according to their doctrine, represented the pure and simple Gospel. They asserted that his decrees were invalid, all other religious and prelates were damned, and that the commission of mortal sin deprived priests of the sacerdotal dignity and powers. (These views were brought out in the trials to which the imprisoned adherents of Fra Angelo were subjected by the inquisitors, especially in 1334. In the processes of these trials and in numerous papal Bulls they are called, as a rule, Fraticelli seu fratres de paupere vitâ or "Brothers of the Poor Life'.)
As appears from the papal Bulls, the followers of Angelo established themselves in Central Italy, i.e., in the province of Rome, Umbria, and the March of Ancona, and also in Southern Italy (Campagna, Basilicata, and Naples). Fra Angelo enjoyed the protection of the Abbot of Subiaco although John XXII (21 February., 1334) commanded the guardian of the cloister at Aracoeli to imprison Angelo, "the demented heretic who styles himself general of the condemned sect of the Fraticelli". Equally unsuccessful had been a papal warrant issued for his arrest (22 November 1331), when he fled to Southern Italy.
Angelo died 15 July 1337, and the congregation, deprived of its leader, loosely organized to begin with, and hard pressed by the Inquisition, seem to have split into a number of groups each holding its own doctrines, though it is impossible to exactly determine their origin. In addition, after the controversy regarding poverty broke out (1321–28), all the Fraticelli showed a stronger opposition to the papacy. (Angelo da Clareno was later venerated as a worker of miracles.)
We're going to change history and pick up the story in 1296. Angelo and his followers have been declared heretics, but the generous hunchback King Charles II of Naples has given him refuge as well as the county of Foggia.
Goals for this AAR:
-Keep the da Clareno dynasty Fraticelli
-Create the Fraticelli papacy
-Spread the doctrine of Fraticellinism wherever possible!
Our adventures start with this man:
More to come....