Alisseta Boneta, Sister of Na Prous Boneta

Translated by David Burr, History Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA.

Translated from the text in the Collection Doat, vol. 27, ff. 26r-30r. For the Latin text go here.

Alisseta Bonet, the daughter of Durand Bonet, of the parish of Saint-Michel de la Cadière in the diocese of Nîmes, an inhabitant of Montpellier for thirty-two years (so she said) and the sister of Na Prous Bonnet, as we learned in legally valid manner through her confession made in judicial process during the month of November in the year 1325, saw Guillaume Verrier, Guillaume Serrallier, and Friar Raimond Déjean the apostate from the Order of Friars Minor, all fugitives on account of heresy, as well as many other men and women who shared the belief of the beguins who were burned. She saw them in the home of the aforementioned Na Prous, with whom she lived, and she saw them on many different occasions, although not all at once but rather a few at a time in larger or smaller numbers, as they came and went. She ate and drank with them and gave them her goods. Although she did not know at first what sort of people they were, she soon did, and yet she continued to associate with them.

Again, she heard it preached in public sermons that the rule of the Friars Minor and the Gospel were identical, and she believed it, she says.

Again, she heard at one time or another (and believed it) that the lord pope could not dispense from the rule of the Friars Minor, nor transfer people from one order to another, i.e. shift a Friar Minor into the Preaching Order. She particularly asked herself how the pope, who ought to be a minister of God, could turn good into evil. Later she came to her senses, thought it over, and said, "You should not believe in yourself or adhere to your own opinion, but rather hold constantly to the determination and faith of the Holy Church of God. And thus she believed thereafter that the Lord Pope could do these things.

Again, she heard the aforementioned Guillaume Verrier say that he had no fear of anyone who said the beguins burned at Narbonne were good people, especially one called Brother Madius, whom he commended a great deal.

Again, she visited the beguins later burned at Lunel while they were in the bishop of Maguelonne's prison, and especially Guillelma de Mirepoix. Asked several times what she thought about those condemned beguins, whether she thought they had been condemned justly or unjustly, she replied over and over that she believed what the Holy Mother Church believed, and she did not to respond in any other way. Finally however she said she believed they were justly condemned.

Again, she heard her sister Na Prous say she had been transported into heaven and her head was in Christ's side, and she saw the splendor of the whole trinity. She also heard her say that John, the present pope, had destroyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; that the sacraments no longer conferred salvation; and that the lord pope lost his papal power when he condemned the writing of Friar Pierre Déjean, whom she considered a good man.

Again, she heard from her sister Na Prous that she possessed the grace of the Holy Spirit as completely as did the Virgin Mary.

Again, she heard from Na Prous errors and heresies concerning the pope, whom she compared with Herod and Antichrist. She said the sin of this pope, namely the Lord John, was as great as that of Herod when he had the innocents slain, or that of Adam when he ate the apple. She heard many other errors and heresies from her sister, against the church, the prelates and the ecclesiastical sacraments (which she said had been annulled); and she heard still other things which are more fully contained in the copy of Na Prous' confession to be read shortly. We omit these errors here for the sake of brevity.

She said when she meditated on the things her sister told her and asked herself what the truth of the matter might be, at one point she reflected that God could do all things and thus could inspire her sister with his grace in this manner, and so she believed that what her sister said was good and true, given her by God. Later she believed in her heart that it was an illusion, the work of the devil. Finally, however, she said in the judicial process that she had concluded she would not dare to say or believe definitively that it was a demonically caused illusion or temptation, because if she said that she would fear God's judgment, she feared God would punish her. She wished to believe definitively that on the whole it was God's work and the Holy Spirit's work rather than the devil's. Insofar as it might be against the holy church of God, though, she did not want to hold to it, as she said.

It was explained to her by the inquisitor's representative that what she heard from her sister was erroneous, heretical, against the faith and Holy Roman Church, and the work of the devil. She was ordered, asked, admonished and begged to reject and abjure all of the aforesaid, especially what was said against the ecclesiastical sacraments and papal power, to consider her sister a heretic and heresiarch, and to consider those who have been condemned and burned heretics. She was asked to swear that she so believed. She replied that she would not swear this because she did not have knowledge of God's judgments, nor did she know to what end he might bring the aforesaid.

She remained stubborn on this matter for around a year. Asked about it many times, she was obstinate. Finally, though, after a long time in prison, she said freely, willingly and without being asked that she repented of all the aforesaid, and she abjured everything in judicial process. She says she repents. In the year of our Lord 1328, on the twentieth day of October, she confirmed these things before Friar Henri de Chamayou, inquisitor. Also present were Friars Pons de Massit, Jean Peyrell, and Guillaume d'Auxerre of the Order of Preaching Friars, and Master Mennet the notary, who wrote this in note form.

Alisseta was included in the general sentence pronounced on November 11, 1328, where she is called "Alisseta seu Alaraxis." She was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. One year later, on September 10, 1329, her sentence was commuted to wearing crosses and going on pilgrimages (Ibid., f. 194v). On the same day one Stephana Boneta, probably her sister, was sentenced to life imprisonment (Ibid., f. 228r). That she was closely related is made almost certain by the fact that the panel of consultants who suggested her sentence describe her as born in Saint-Michel de la Cadière in the diocese of Nîmes, but currently an inhabitant of Montpellier (Douais, L'inquisition, 350), precisely the same combination as Prous.

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