What was the motivation behind the flagellant movement

The burghers in the cities gave them money from the city coffers so that they could buy flags and candles. The flagellant brothers also assumed great holiness and said that great things were happening by their will.

They said a statue of Our Lady had been sweating. Learn more about plague saints. The flagellants made an appearance in Avignon when the plague struck there, and the pope rather uneasily allowed them to practice this behavior for a very short time.

But there was a pretty quick consensus on the part of most church officials that the flagellant movement was excessive and dangerous, and, perhaps most concerning, the participants started to think that they had a right to act as preachers.

They did not think or speak of the clergy and the sacraments of the Church with proper reverence, but rather with contempt.

Now, this was a serious problem, as it was a usurpation of ecclesiastical authority and a threat to the religious hierarchy. Pope Clement rather swiftly issued a bull against the flagellant movement, and those who refused to submit to his correction were excommunicated.

In the face of the Black Death , Most people started praying more earnestly and fasting more frequently. Those who went to pilgrimage did it more regularly and even tried to make it harder for themselves, like crawling instead of walking. He advised to not mix with people unless you are sure of their healthy breath. He also suggested eating and drinking moderately. Many church officials during the spread of the Black Death believed that the movement was unnecessarily dangerous. But another reason was that participants in the movement thought they had a right to preach to people.

By Dorsey Armstrong, Ph. The different accounts of how people reacted to the Black Death are varied, and not all of them are reliable. Sometimes at St Paul's and sometimes at other points in the city they made two daily public appearances wearing cloths from the thighs to the ankles, but otherwise stripped bare.

Each wore a cap marked with a red cross in front and behind. Each had in his right hand a scourge with three tails. Each tail had a knot and through the middle of it there were sometimes sharp nails fixed. They marched naked in a file one behind the other and whipped themselves with these scourges on their naked and bleeding bodies.

Four of them would chant in their native tongue and, another four would chant in response like a litany. Thrice they would all cast themselves on the ground in this sort of procession, stretching out their hands like the arms of a cross. The singing would go on and, the one who was in the rear of those thus prostrate acting first, each of them in turn would step over the others and give one stroke with his scourge to the man lying under him.

This went on from the first to the last until each of them had observed the ritual to the full tale of those on the ground. Then each put on his customary garments and always wearing their caps and carrying their whips in their hands they retired to their lodgings.