The birth of heresy: A millennial phenomenon (A critical response to R.I. Moore's dismissal of 11th-century apocalyptic movements)

This article provides a critical response to R. I. Moore's keynote paper fo r the millennial special issue of the "Journal of Religious History". Moore dismisses any connection between the reports of popular heresies in the ea rly eleventh century and millennial concerns, either chronological or proph etic, and argues that the documents tell us almost nothing reliable about p opular religiosity at this time. This response suggests that there are many good reasons for interpreting the evidence from a millennial perspective. The religious activity of the period (relic cults, pilgrimage, peace assemb lies, penitential processions, apostolic movements, "heresy" and its persec ution, anti-Jewish violence) should be viewed as part of a larger interrela ted whole, rather than as discrete, unrelated phenomena. The article then f ocuses on Rodulfus Glaber's famous treatment of the peasant heretic Leutard in 1000 as a case study in such an approach. It reads Glaber not as a conf used and incomprehensible historian, but a subtle and complex one who belie ved that the chronological millennium of 1000 marked an apocalyptic turning point, and whose narratives were crafted to convey as much about this tran sformation as possible.