WI: Flagellent Reformation 13th Century?

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The Flagellant Movement was a 13th - 14th century reactionary pseduo-christian movement that occurred as a reaction to the failure of the Catholic Church to prevent and/or alleviate the destruction of the Black Plague.

Walking around the European countryside , chanting Christian hymns and prayers while violently scourging themselves was a daily occurrence in the life of a Flagellant. The purpose of such activities was to invoke penance and salvation from Christ.

So what if the movement caught on, spreading enough to effect the Catholic church?

What could a Flagellant Reformation in 13th century Europe look like?

What effects would it have on Kingship and Divine Right?

Is this plausible?
 
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Are you asking what if the Church Hierarchy was abandoned and replaced by Flagellants?
It'd need lots of backing by the secular authorities and they weren't exactly in the best shape themselves at the time.
Incorporating some form of flagellation might be possible. Certain orders did include a small amount anyway
 
Are you asking what if the Church Hierarchy was abandoned and replaced by Flagellants?
It'd need lots of backing by the secular authorities and they weren't exactly in the best shape themselves at the time.
Incorporating some form of flagellation might be possible. Certain orders did include a small amount anyway

Right my question wasnt very clear, but thanks for the answer.

I meant to ask "what if" regarding a sort of Flagellant challenge towards church authority.

I.E., "we the the Flagellants, who scourge our bodies be closer to Christ and the Passion hold a higher religious authority than the decadent catholic church."

Which then, like Luther's 99 Theses, causes European Kings and Noblemen to rethink their allegiances to the Pope.

So instead of Protestantism in the 15th century, we have Flagellantism in the 13th, with Flagellant churches, preachers and religious rites and kingship.

What would all of that look like?

Would European Kings scourge themselves to entrench their divine legitimacy?

Would the violent nature of such a reformation cause people to flee Christianity all together?

How would this fetishism of the Passion effect antisemitism in Europe?
 
This is a difficult prospect.

There is no support base for them compared to the Protestants who had the printing press and thus easier access to the hearts and minds of others, especially the growing middle class which was as of yet in its infancy during the 13th century., and the sympathy of the nobles who still had more to gain by preserving the status quo.

And the flagellants had no central rally point save perhaps for the mendicant orders started by Saint Francis of Assisi. And there was little sympathy for them until they became a proper religious order.

There's a lot of the roots of Protestantism in the late medieval heresies, including preaching in the vernacular (that's why the rallying call was Penitentziagite!, which comes from Poenitentiam agite.).

*may be mistaken, since some of this knowledge comes from conjecture, The Name of the Rose, and CK2*

In any case, a moderated Flagellant Reformation (since many of the radical movements were apocalyptic and millennial) would likely include a dressing down of the Papal court and the Church, which would in turn lead to the rise of absolutist states, since the Church would be less in a position to oppose the ambitions of the kings and princes.
 
There is no support base for them compared to the Protestants who had the printing press and thus easier access to the hearts

I don't know if this was true.

In fact, the popularity of Flangellant movement had grown so large, especially in the 14th century, that Pope Clement VI enacted a bull against them in 1372, making them a target for the inquisition and counter-reformation for the next 200-300 years.

Though maybe their zealotry made them too unpalatable for Kings enmasse to support the movement.
 
I don't know if this was true.

In fact, the popularity of Flangellant movement had grown so large, especially in the 14th century, that Pope Clement VI enacted a bull against them in 1372, making them a target for the inquisition and counter-reformation for the next 200-300 years.

Though maybe their zealotry made them too unpalatable for Kings enmasse to support the movement.

But the problem is organizing them into a coherent movement. They have no bigger aims than to atone for the sins, perceived or actual, of Europe at the time.

The ideas would mature into doubt and questioning of the faith, especially among the learned and lettered men.

But the flagellants were more mobs of penitents than a large, relatively unified, religiously motivated intellectual movement out to destroy Papal supremacy and the corruption which was the fruit thereof.
 
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