SCOT TRANSLATES AVERROES 111 



iave been some at least who were adherents of 

 he Albigensian party. No religious opinion ever 

 aade so striking a progress among the wealthy and 

 loble as this, and none was ever commended in a 

 yay more fit to win the sympathy and interest of a 

 t'outhful monarch inclined to letters and gallantry, 

 lie doctrine of the Albigenses was in fact a late 

 vival of the Gnosis of Alexandria. It flattered 

 he pride of those who desired distinction even in 

 eir religion. Its representatives and advocates 

 ere no repulsive monks or sour ascetics but men 

 f birth and breeding, who excelled in manly 

 ercises, and were famous for their success in the 

 urts of love and in the gay saber. It would not 

 ,ve been wonderful if Frederick himself had 

 ome an Albigensian. He is known to have 

 ught a taste for Provengal poetry if nothing 

 ore, and it is certain that he remained, to the 

 ose of his life, and even beyond it, a grateful 

 d sympathetic figure among those who, after the 

 t persecution, still represented Albigensian 

 trine. 1 Something of this may have been due 

 the influence of his wife Constantia, whose father, 

 >n Pedro of Aragon, had fallen gallantly in 1213 

 ider the walls of Murel, during an expedition in 

 ich he led the Spanish chivalry to aid the 



I- Albertus Stadensis speaks of a heretical sect which appeared at 

 Ille in 1248. They abused the clergy, the monastic orders and the 

 Ipe, but their preachers exhorted them to pray for the Emperor 

 ^derick and his son Conrad, qui perfecti et justi sunt. Among the 

 bigenses and Cathari generally the word perfecti was used in a 

 jjhnical sense to indicate those who had been received into complete 

 i.owship as opposed to the credentes who were still on probation. As 

 Iplied therefore to the Emperor and his son it would seem to indicate 

 l east certain leanings to these opinions on Frederick's part. This might 

 l|)lain the action he certainly took in trying to detach the Sicilian 

 rgy from the see of Rome and to set up a national or imperial church 

 rhich he pretended to the earthly headship. 



