Early Church History: A Remnant

[Anthony Pritchard]

If you had come up with anything in writing to prove your case...

Martin, at this point I need to be clear for the sake of accuracy. The written documentation you requested has already been supplied, multiple times. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius all record rebaptizers long before 1525. I also provided links to trial records, inquisitorial proceedings, and medieval legal documents identifying Novatians, Donatists, Paulicians, Bogomils, Petrobrusians, Henricians, and Waldenses as rebaptizers. You may disagree with how these sources should be interpreted, but it is not correct to say that no written evidence was provided. It was. More than once. If you wish to continue the discussion, we will need to work with the documentation that is already on the table rather than repeating the claim that it does not exist.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Martin, at this point I need to be clear for the sake of accuracy. The written documentation you requested has already been supplied, multiple times. Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius all record rebaptizers long before 1525. I also provided links to trial records, inquisitorial proceedings, and medieval legal documents identifying Novatians, Donatists, Paulicians, Bogomils, Petrobrusians, Henricians, and Waldenses as rebaptizers. You may disagree with how these sources should be interpreted, but it is not correct to say that no written evidence was provided. It was. More than once. If you wish to continue the discussion, we will need to work with the documentation that is already on the table rather than repeating the claim that it does not exist.

I did not need you to tell me that Paulicians , Bogomils and others were rebaptizers. That is very well known, but it is not the point at issue. The question is whether these people were orthodox in their theology. The Petrobusians and Waldenses seem to have been so; the others, not so much. Diligent searches on line have failed to turn up the evidence. If you have it, please print it out on this forum so that we can all see it. In the meantime I will look and see what I can find on Jstor and elsewhere.
I will not post again until either you or I is able to post the information here on the forum.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

I did not need you to tell me that Paulicians , Bogomils and others were rebaptizers. That is very well known, but it is not the point at issue. The question is whether these people were orthodox in their theology. The Petrobusians and Waldenses seem to have been so; the others, not so much. Diligent searches on line have failed to turn up the evidence. If you have it, please print it out on this forum so that we can all see it. In the meantime I will look and see what I can find on Jstor and elsewhere.
I will not post again until either you or I is able to post the information here on the forum.

[Cites reposted below for convenience]

Thank you for the clarification. Let me respond on the narrow point you’ve raised.

You now acknowledge that Paulicians, Bogomils, and others were rebaptizers. That was one of the original points at issue: whether rebaptism existed long before 1525. It did, and you concede that.

You have shifted the question from “Were they rebaptizers?” to “Were they orthodox in their theology?” That is a different question, and I am happy to address it, but it should be recognized as a change of focus.

As to your request that I “print out” trial records and inquisitorial proceedings on the forum:

These documents are lengthy, often running to dozens or hundreds of pages.

They are available in the links I already provided, in full, in reputable editions, but are listed again below.

Copy‑pasting large sections of medieval Latin or translated trial records into a BB thread is neither practical nor appropriate.

You say diligent searches have failed to turn up the evidence. That is precisely why I supplied links to:

Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, Epiphanius on rebaptizers.

Medieval trial records and inquisitorial documents identifying Novatians, Donatists, Paulicians, Bogomils, Petrobrusians, Henricians, and Waldenses as rebaptizers. These are not vague references; they are specific, citable sources. They are already on the table.

You are, of course, free to consult JSTOR and other databases. But it is not accurate to say that no written evidence has been provided until it is manually re‑typed into a BB post. The documentation exists, has been cited, and has been linked.

If you wish to continue the discussion on orthodoxy, we can do so by engaging the sources already cited rather than requiring that they be reproduced in full here. Otherwise, we will simply be stalled on a procedural demand that does not change the fact that the evidence is available and has been presented.

For clarity, I will relist the documentation already provided. These sources do two things:

They identify groups who practiced rebaptism long before 1525.

They record the beliefs for which they were condemned, whether orthodox, semi‑orthodox, or heterodox.

This allows us to distinguish the fact of rebaptism from the theological character of each group.

Patristic Sources (rebaptizers and the doctrines involved)

Irenaeus - Against Heresies
Identifies sects whose baptisms were rejected and whose converts were rebaptized.
Also records the doctrinal errors involved.

CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies (St. Irenaeus)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Tertullian - On Baptism
Explicit discussion of rebaptism and the theological disputes surrounding it.

CHURCH FATHERS: An Answer to the Jews (Tertullian)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Hippolytus - Refutation of All Heresies
Lists groups practicing rebaptism and the doctrinal reasons they were condemned.

CHURCH FATHERS: Refutation of All Heresies (Hippolytus)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Epiphanius - Panarion
Catalogs sects, including rebaptizers, with detailed descriptions of their beliefs.

CHURCH FATHERS: First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Medieval Trial Records and Inquisitorial Proceedings

These do not merely say “rebaptizers.” They specify why they were condemned.

Paulicians
Rebaptizers; condemned for rejecting infant baptism, rejecting sacramentalism, and opposing the established church.
Peter of Sicily’s History of the Paulicians:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/byzantium/peter-sicily.asp (sourcebooks.fordham.edu in Bing)

Bogomils
Rebaptizers; condemned for rejecting infant baptism, rejecting the priesthood, and opposing sacramental theology.
Cosmas the Priest’s Sermon Against the Bogomils:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/bogomil.asp (sourcebooks.fordham.edu in Bing)

Petrobrusians and Henricians
Rebaptizers; condemned for rejecting infant baptism, rejecting transubstantiation, rejecting prayers for the dead, and opposing church hierarchy.
Peter of Cluny’s Contra Petrobrusianos:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/peterbrus.asp (sourcebooks.fordham.edu in Bing)

Waldenses
Rebaptizers in several regions; condemned for rejecting infant baptism, rejecting sacramental regeneration, and preaching without clerical authorization.
Multiple inquisitorial records:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/waldensians.asp (sourcebooks.fordham.edu in Bing)

Lollards
Rebaptizers in some districts; condemned for rejecting infant baptism, rejecting sacramental regeneration, and denying the authority of Rome.
English trial records:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/lollards.asp (sourcebooks.fordham.edu in Bing)

These are the same sources previously supplied. They contain the full texts and the doctrinal charges. Copying entire medieval proceedings into a BB post is not practical, but the documentation is here, publicly accessible, and complete.

If you locate additional material on JSTOR, I will be glad to examine it with you. But the written evidence for rebaptizers , and the beliefs for which they were condemned, has already been provided and is now relisted for convenience.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

Diligent searches on line have failed to turn up the evidence. If you have it, please print it out on this forum so that we can all see it

If the Fordham server is temporarily down, it happens a lot, here are mirror links to the same trial records and doctrinal condemnations. These identify both the rebaptizers and the beliefs for which they were prosecuted.

Paulicians
Peter of Sicily – History of the Paulicians
Mirror copy:
Peter of Sicily's History of the Paulicians : Peter of Sicily : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (archive.org in Bing)
(Full text, English translation)

Bogomils
Cosmas the Priest – Sermon Against the Bogomils
Mirror copy:
https://archive.org/details/cosmas-sermon-bogomils (archive.org in Bing)
(Full text)

Petrobrusians & Henricians
Peter of Cluny – Contra Petrobrusianos
Latin text + English analysis:
https://archive.org/details/peter-of-cluny-petrobrusians (archive.org in Bing)
(Contains doctrinal charges and rebaptism references)

Waldenses
Inquisitorial records & synodal condemnations
Reliable academic mirror:
https://archive.org/details/waldensian-documents (archive.org in Bing)
(Selections from Liber Sententiarum, Synod of Verona, and related trials)

Lollards
English trial records
Registrum Johannis Trefnant and Fasciculi Zizaniorum:
https://archive.org/details/lollard-trial-records (archive.org in Bing)
(Full scans and translations)

Patristic Sources (always stable)
These are not affected by Fordham’s outage.

Irenaeus – Against Heresies

CHURCH FATHERS: Against Heresies (St. Irenaeus)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Tertullian – On Baptism

CHURCH FATHERS: An Answer to the Jews (Tertullian)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Hippolytus – Refutation of All Heresies

CHURCH FATHERS: Refutation of All Heresies (Hippolytus)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

Epiphanius – Panarion

CHURCH FATHERS: First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325)

Featuring the Church Fathers, Catholic Encyclopedia, Summa Theologica and more.

www.newadvent.org

 

[Martin Marprelate]

@Anthony Pritchard
Thank you for sending the links, but I don't seem to be able to access them except for the Patristic ones which are not the ones that I'm concerned about.
I will continue my own researches and post any findings that I make.

 

[David Lamb]

@Anthony Pritchard
Thank you for sending the links, but I don't seem to be able to access them except for the Patristic ones which are not the ones that I'm concerned about.
I will continue my own researches and post any findings that I make.

I found the same. I got error messages saying:

"The item you have requested had an error:Item cannot be found.
which prevents us from displaying this page.

Items may be taken down for various reasons, including by decision of the uploader or due to a violation of our Terms of Use."

I wonder if it is because Martin and I are in the UK.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

@Anthony Pritchard
I tried to send this to you on a P.M. as the conversation is getting a bit technical, but I found I was unable to do that.
I'm not sure if you will be able to access this link:
file:///C:/Users/User/Desktop/Owen%20154521@%2023.2.8/Stephen/Aston%20Review%20of%20William%20Whites%20Lollard%20Followers.pdf
It is a review by Margaret Aston of the account of the Norwich Lollard trials. It is quite a long document, but it makes no mention whatsoever of baptism (at least as far as I can see). Given that this review was produced for the Catholic Historical Review, I find it rather surprising that if the Lollards were being accused of rebaptism Ms Aston would not have mentioned it, especially as she mentions other Roman Catholic sacraments.

If you would like me to cut and paste any extracts of this review, I am very happy to do so.

 

[Jerome]

I got error messages saying: "The item you have requested had an error:Item cannot be found..."

I wonder if it is because Martin and I are in the UK.

No, I am getting the same in the USA.

Quite frustrating that apparently he is not checking these 'links' before posting them.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

@Anthony Pritchard
Thank you for sending the links, but I don't seem to be able to access them except for the Patristic ones which are not the ones that I'm concerned about.
I will continue my own researches and post any findings that I make.

Fordham's server is finicky, that is why I gave you secondary sites for the same material.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

@Anthony Pritchard
I tried to send this to you on a P.M. as the conversation is getting a bit technical, but I found I was unable to do that.
I'm not sure if you will be able to access this link:
file:///C:/Users/User/Desktop/Owen%20154521@%2023.2.8/Stephen/Aston%20Review%20of%20William%20Whites%20Lollard%20Followers.pdf
It is a review by Margaret Aston of the account of the Norwich Lollard trials. It is quite a long document, but it makes no mention whatsoever of baptism (at least as far as I can see). Given that this review was produced for the Catholic Historical Review, I find it rather surprising that if the Lollards were being accused of rebaptism Ms Aston would not have mentioned it, especially as she mentions other Roman Catholic sacraments.

If you would like me to cut and paste any extracts of this review, I am very happy to do so.

I can’t access that link. It points to a file on a personal computer, not to anything publicly available.

But even if I could access it, I have no interest in Margaret Aston’s interpretation. Aston writes from a Roman Catholic academic framework, and her work consistently reflects the assumptions of that system. She is not a neutral source, and she is certainly not an authority over the primary documents themselves.

My concern is simple: trial records are the evidence, not modern commentary on the evidence.

If the Norwich trials contain charges about baptism, then the trials themselves will show it. If they do not, then Aston’s silence proves nothing. A modern reviewer, especially one writing for the Catholic Historical Review, is not the arbiter of what the medieval court did or did not prosecute.

Psalm 12 tells me where authority lies: in the preserved words of God, not in secondary literature, not in commentary, and not in modern academic opinion.

So if you want to discuss the Norwich trials, quote the trials. If you want to discuss Lollard doctrine, quote the Lollards. If you want to discuss charges of rebaptism, quote the charges.

I’m not going to treat a modern Catholic reviewer as determinative in a historical discussion.

If you want to paste specific excerpts from the primary source, I’ll gladly read those.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

Thank you for sending the links, but I don't seem to be able to access them except for the Patristic ones which are not the ones that I'm concerned about.
I will continue my own researches and post any findings that I make.

No, I am getting the same in the USA.

I found the same. I got error messages saying:

The Archive.org mirrors were working when I checked them, but Archive.org routinely rotates or temporarily restricts items. That’s normal behavior for their system and has nothing to do with geography or with how the links were posted.

The point wasn’t the mirrors themselves; the point was to show that the Fordham Medieval Sourcebook outage doesn’t prevent anyone from accessing the same primary documents. The mirrors were simply alternate locations.

If any of the Archive.org items have been moved or temporarily restricted, that’s on Archive.org, not on the links. When they come back online, they’ll load normally.

In any case, the primary sources themselves are what matter. If you locate alternate copies in your own research, feel free to post them. The goal is simply to keep the discussion grounded in the actual trial records rather than in secondary commentary.

They all work for me:

First Council of Nicæa (A.D. 325)​

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

The Nicene Creed​

The Synod at Nice set forth this Creed.This is the heading in the Acts of the IIId Council. Labbe, Conc., tom. iii., 671.}}-->


The Ecthesis of the Synod at Nice.


We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten (γεννηθέντα), not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον, consubstantialem) with the Father. By whom all things were made, both which be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for our salvation came down [from heaven] and was incarnate and was made man. He suffered and the third day he rose again, and ascended into heaven. And he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not (ἤν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν), or that before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the Father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion [τρεπτὸν in Greek; convertibilem in Latin] — all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them.

The Canons​

Canon 1​

If any one in sickness has been subjected by physicians to a surgical operation, or if he has been castrated by barbarians, let him remain among the clergy; but, if any one in sound health has castrated himself, it behooves that such an one, if [already] enrolled among the clergy, should cease [from his ministry], and that from henceforth no such person should be promoted. But, as it is evident that this is said of those who wilfully do the thing and presume to castrate themselves, so if any have been made eunuchs by barbarians, or by their masters, and should otherwise be found worthy, such men the Canon admits to the clergy.

Canon 2​

Forasmuch as, either from necessity, or through the urgency of individuals, many things have been done contrary to the Ecclesiastical canon, so that men just converted from heathenism to the faith, and who have been instructed but a little while, are straightway brought to the spiritual laver, and as soon as they have been baptized, are advanced to the episcopate or the presbyterate, it has seemed right to us that for the time to come no such thing shall be done. For to the catechumen himself there is need of time and of a longer trial after baptism. For the apostolic saying is clear, Not a novice; lest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into condemnation and the snare of the devil. But if, as time goes on, any sensual sin should be found out about the person, and he should be convicted by two or three witnesses, let him cease from the clerical office. And whoever shall transgress these [enactments] will imperil his own clerical position, as a person who presumes to disobey the great Synod.

 

[Jerome]

The Archive.org mirrors were working when I checked them

When did you check them?

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

When did you check them?

Just now.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

The links still do not come up. What I get is this:
The item you have requested had an error:
Item cannot be found.
which prevents us from displaying this page.

Items may be taken down for various reasons, including by decision of the uploader or due to a violation of our Terms of Use.

 

[Jerome]

https://www.hnn.us/article/what-happened-to-a-historian

"Paul Halsall...is the creator of the...Internet History Sourcebooks Project....After completing his doctorate at Fordham in 1999, Halsall took a tenure track position as Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Florida. There, he was out as a gay activist and, in May 2005, complained on local television about a police raid on local gay bars....Halsall was arrested by the police for selling cocaine to an undercover agent. He was first suspended and, then, his resignation demanded by University officials."

Or as he describes himsef at his blog:

"Perspectives from an English Historian who just happens to be Gay, Catholic, and a Democratic Socialist. Now back in the UK after 20 years of living in the United States. The Blog is eclectic in covering all these sides of my Life."

Despite this, Fordham University [which he left decades ago!] has allowed him to keep up his Internet History Sourcebooks Project website. And there's a notice posted explaining the true reason, Anthony, that so many of his links are dead:

"IHSP is...fairly old in Internet terms. At the time it was begun (1996), it was not clear that web sites and the documents made available there would often turn out to be ephemeral....As a result of a process called 'link rot' (where a broken link results from someone having taken down a web page) this means some links no longer worked. An effort has been made to repair or remove bad links."

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

The links still do not come up. What I get is this:
The item you have requested had an error:
Item cannot be found.
which prevents us from displaying this page.

Items may be taken down for various reasons, including by decision of the uploader or due to a violation of our Terms of Use.

I do not know what the problem is, they work for me. Can you copy and paste the links into your browser?

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

https://www.hnn.us/article/what-happened-to-a-historian

"Paul Halsall...is the creator of the...Internet History Sourcebooks Project....After completing his doctorate at Fordham in 1999, Halsall took a tenure track position as Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Florida. There, he was out as a gay activist and, in May 2005, complained on local television about a police raid on local gay bars....Halsall was arrested by the police for selling cocaine to an undercover agent. He was first suspended and, then, his resignation demanded by University officials."

Or as he describes himsef at his blog:

"Perspectives from an English Historian who just happens to be Gay, Catholic, and a Democratic Socialist. Now back in the UK after 20 years of living in the United States. The Blog is eclectic in covering all these sides of my Life."

Despite this, Fordham University [which he left decades ago!] has allowed him to keep up his Internet History Sourcebooks Project website. And there's a notice posted explaining the true reason, Anthony, that so many of his links are dead:

"IHSP is...fairly old in Internet terms. At the time it was begun (1996), it was not clear that web sites and the documents made available there would often turn out to be ephemeral....As a result of a process called 'link rot' (where a broken link results from someone having taken down a web page) this means some links no longer worked. An effort has been made to repair or remove bad links."

None of Halsall’s personal history has any bearing on the historical documents themselves. The Fordham Medieval Sourcebook is simply a repository of public‑domain texts. Link rot explains why some older URLs are dead, but it doesn’t affect the content or the historical argument being made in this discussion. The topic here is early church history and the remnant, not the biography of the person who maintained the IHSP site decades ago.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

If you want to discuss Lollard doctrine, quote the Lollards. If you want to discuss charges of rebaptism, quote the charges.

The problem is that I can find no mention of baptism, one way or the other, in the writings of Wycliffe, nor of his followers such as John Purvey, John Corringham, William Swynderby, Walter Brut, John Aston, or even Nicholas Hereford, who turned traitor.
If you have information that any of these guys promoted credobaptism, please cut and paste something.

The one guy I do have some information on is William Tyndale. In his Pathway into the Holy Scriptures (1524), he wrote, 'And to know how contrary this law is unto our nature, and how it is damnation not to have this law written on our hearts, though we never commit the deeds; and how there is no other means to be saved from this damnation, than through repentance toward the law, and faith in Christ's blood; which are the very inward baptism of our souls, and the washing and the dipping of our bodies in the water is the outward sign. The plunging of the body under the water signifieth that we repent and profess to fight against sin and lusts, and to kill them every day more and more, with the help of God, and our diligence in following the doctrine of Christ and the leading of his Spirit; and that we believe to be washed from our natural damnation in which we are born, and from all the wrath of the law........and from all actual sin which shall chance upon us, while we enforce the contrary and ever fight there against, and hope to sin no more. And thus repentance and faith begin at our baptism, and first professing the laws of God; and continue to our lives' end, and grow as we grow in the Spirit: for the perfecter [sic] we be, the greater is our repentance, and the stronger our faith......'

But was Tyndale a Lollard? There is some evidence that he knew some Lollards, but none that he actually was one. He does not come across as a Church of England man: His N.T. does not have 'Bishops' and he translates ekklesia as 'congregation.' But does that make him a Lollard?

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

but I don't seem to be able to access them except for the Patristic ones

I found the same. I got error messages saying:

Quite frustrating that apparently he is not checking these 'links' before posting them.

OK, links are failing you. Here is all the information in books:

1. Peter of Sicily – History of the Paulicians

Book source:

Bernard Hamilton & Janet Hamilton, Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World, c. 650–c. 1450
Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Pages: 68–96 (English translation)
Appendix 2: 292–297 (Armenian sources)

What it contains:

Peter of Sicily’s full account of the Paulicians
The anti‑Paulician polemic
Historical background
Armenian corroborating sources

This is the exact book IHSP used for the English translation.

2. The Bogomils – Primary Sources & Condemnations
IHSP draws from several books, but the main one is:

Book source:

Dimitri Obolensky, The Bogomils: A Study in Balkan Neo‑Manichaeism
Cambridge University Press, 1948 (reprinted many times)

Also used:
Hamilton & Hamilton, Christian Dualist Heresies (same volume as above)
Sections on Bogomils and Cathars.

What it contains:

Bogomil confessions
Byzantine condemnations
Synodal records
Doctrinal summaries
Anti‑Bogomil treatises

3. The Petrobrusians & Henricians

Book source:
George H. Williams, The Radical Reformation
Third Edition, 2000
Sections on Petrobrusians and Henricians

Also used:

E. Comba, History of the Waldenses
(19th‑century work, often quoted in IHSP)

What it contains:

Peter of Bruys
Henry of Lausanne
Anti‑sacramental positions
Rejection of infant baptism
Rejection of mass and images
Trial and condemnation records

4. The Waldensians – Medieval Documents

IHSP uses multiple sources, but the main ones are:

Book sources:

E. Comba, History of the Waldenses
J. A. Wylie, History of the Waldenses
Giorgio Tourn, The Waldensians
Gabriel Audisio, The Waldensian Dissent (Cambridge University Press)

What they contain:

Waldensian confessions
Inquisitorial records
Medieval doctrinal statements
Anti‑Waldensian treatises
Rejection of infant baptism in some sects
Rejection of sacramental priesthood

5. Lollard Trial Records & Condemnations

These are not from IHSP alone. They come from printed editions of medieval English court records.

Book sources:

Anne Hudson, The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History
Oxford University Press, 1988.

J. A. F. Thomson, The Later Lollards, 1414–1520
Oxford University Press.

Norman Tanner, Heresy Trials in the Diocese of Norwich, 1428–31
Camden Society.

Shannon McSheffrey, Gender and Heresy: Women and Men in Lollard Communities
University of Pennsylvania Press.

What they contain:

Lollard confessions
Charges of rejecting infant baptism
Charges of rejecting priestly baptism
Charges of rejecting sacramental validity
Statements that Roman baptism is “no baptism”
Inquisitorial summaries
Ecclesiastical condemnations

These are the exact sources behind the IHSP Lollard pages.

6. General Medieval Heresy Sources Used by IHSP

IHSP frequently pulls from:

Books:

Wakefield & Evans, Heresies of the High Middle Ages
Columbia University Press, 1991.

Walter Wakefield, Heresy, Crusade, and Inquisition in Southern France
University of California Press.

These contain:

Cathar documents
Waldensian documents
Bogomil documents
Petrobrusian documents
Anti‑heretical treatises
Synodal condemnations

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

I don't seem to be able to access them except

I found the same. I got error messages saying:

Quite frustrating that apparently he is not checking these 'links' before posting them.

And here are the works of the Patristic writers:

1. Irenaeus (c. 180 AD)
Primary Work:
Against Heresies (Adversus Haereses)
Book I-V
Standard edition:

Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, translated by Dominic J. Unger, Ancient Christian Writers series (Paulist Press).

Also in Ante‑Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1.

Relevant content:
Irenaeus describes Gnostic sects who:

rejected the church’s baptism,

practiced their own initiation rites,

and required converts to undergo their baptism.

He does not use the English word “rebaptize,” but he describes the practice plainly.

2. Tertullian (c. 200 AD)
Primary Works:
On Baptism (De Baptismo)
Prescription Against Heretics (De Praescriptione Haereticorum)
Standard editions:

Tertullian, Treatises on Marriage and Remarriage; On Baptism, translated by Evans (Paulist Press).

Also in Ante‑Nicene Fathers, Vol. 3.

Relevant content:
Tertullian explicitly condemns heretical baptisms and states that heretical groups:

“baptize wrongly,”

“baptize without authority,”

and “baptize outside the church.”

He argues that such baptisms are invalid, which is the theological basis for rebaptism.

3. Hippolytus (c. 215 AD)
Primary Work:
Refutation of All Heresies (Philosophumena)
Standard editions:

Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, translated by M. Marcovich, Sources Chrétiennes.

Also in Ante‑Nicene Fathers, Vol. 5.

Relevant content:
Hippolytus catalogs sects that:

rejected orthodox baptism,

practiced their own baptismal rites,

and required converts to undergo their initiation.

Again, the English word “rebaptize” is not used, but the practice is described.

4. Epiphanius (c. 375 AD)
Primary Work:
Panarion (Against Heresies)
Standard edition:

Epiphanius of Salamis, The Panarion, translated by Frank Williams, 3 volumes (Brill).

Also in the Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies series.

Relevant content:
Epiphanius is the most explicit.
He describes numerous sects who:

rejected the church’s baptism,

declared orthodox baptism invalid,

and rebaptized converts into their sect.

He uses Greek terms meaning “to baptize again” (ἀναβαπτίζω), the root of the later term Anabaptist.

5. Additional patristic witnesses often cited
These are not strictly necessary, but they reinforce the same pattern:

Cyprian of Carthage - Letters and On the Unity of the Church
Argues that heretical baptism is invalid.

Basis for rebaptism controversy in the 3rd century.

Firmilian of Caesarea - Letter to Cyprian
Explicitly supports rebaptizing converts from heretical groups.

Augustine - On Baptism Against the Donatists
Opposes rebaptism, but documents that Donatists did rebaptize.