Pojednání "O katarské herezi v Lombardii" (1190/1215)

This article presents a Czech translation with commentary of the anonymous text entitled De heresi catharorum in Lombardia by its finder and editor, Antoine Dondaine. The translation is based on the edition of the Basel manuscript (Basel, Universitätsbibliothek, ms. C.V.17, fol. 85r-87v) in Antoine Dondaine (ed.), "La hiérarchie cathare en Italie I: Le De heresi catharorum", Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum 19, 1949, 306-312. The introduction summarizes and develops the arguments in favor of a very early date for the text, between 1190 and 1215. Besides notes on particular passages of the text, one topic is commented on in greater detail: the image of Cathar churches as having very definite teachings and a solid awareness of their own identity, history and succession in the episcopal ordination. Against the background of current discussions on the "invention of heresy" and on the deconstruction of anti-heretical discourses, the article argues that there are good reasons not to consider the narrative in the De heresi a mono-vocal polemical fable – as Jean-Louis Biget has claimed, following and slightly simplifying Gabriele Zanella's ideas – but a relatively fair poly-vocal narrative trying to make sense of Cathar groups using not only polemical knowledge but also the narratives of the non-conformists themselves. This conclusion deliberately counters the current deconstructionist trend, eye-opening in many ways but highly ideological when transformed into a dogma sweeping away what interpretive historical work should remain in the first place, i.e. the patient and close reading of sources.