Vol 2, No 7 2000 pp. 325 - 336
UDC 316.35+316.66+396.1
BOGOMILS, CATHARS, LOLLARDS AND THE HIGH SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES
Georgi Vasilev
Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, Sofia
E-mail: aba@bulgaria.net
Abstract. The subject of this study is the special social and cultural status of woman obtained in the milieu of dualistic heresy. The Bogomilisme which appearance was at Xth century in Bulgaria allowed to women to preach in vernacular, to read the Holy scriptures, esp. the New Testament. That was practically an acces to the Word, to the creativeness. One can appreciate this unusual acquisition by the fact that in the Middle Ages in France, in all Western Europe it was forbiden to preach in native language - the Church services and sermons was practiced only in latin. In England such prohibitions were actual till XVIth sentury.
The result of the innovation of the heretics was the rise of a unique protorenaissance culture in Provence /South France/, in which woman received special attention. The troubadours sang prise of woman, that was also the time of the frist poetesses /trobaritz/, precursors of the modern women poetry. In England women lollards are very active in the literary occupations of the lollardy.
The author applies a socilogical approach to this situation of religious and cultural emancipation of woman. That is a possibility to outline more clearly the phenomenon of the self-realization of woman in the counter-culture of the dualist heresy carrying out some comparisons with some attitudes of the contemporary feminism. 
BOGOMILI, KATARI, LOLARDI  I VISOKI DRUŠTVENI POLOŽAJ ŽENE U SREDNJEM VEKU
Predmet ove studije je posebni društveni i kulturni status žene ostvaren u miljeu dualističke jeresi. Bogomilstvo koje se u Bugarskoj javlja u 10. veku omogućilo je ženama da propovedaju na kolokvijalnom jeziku, da čitaju Sveto pismo, naročito Novi zavet. Bio je to, praktično, prodor u svet Reči, svet kreativnosti. O ovoj neobičnoj novini se može suditi na osnovu činjenice da je u srednjem veku u Francuskoj, kao uostalom i u celoj zapadnoj Evropi, bilo zabranjeno držati propovedi na narodnom jeziku - crkvena služba i propovedi su bili na latinskom jeziku. Takve zabrane su u Engleskoj bile aktuelne sve do 16. veka.
Rezultat inovacije jeretika bila je pojava jedinstvene protorenesansne kulture u Provansi (južna Francuska) u kojoj se ženi posvećivala posebna pažnja. Trubaduri su pevali hvalospeve o ženi, a bilo je to i vreme prvih pesnikinja, preteča moderne ženske poezije. U Engleskoj su veoma aktivne žene lolardi koje se okušavaju u književnim formama lolardije.
Autor primenjuje sociološki pristup na ovu situaciju religiozne i kulturne emancipacije žene. To je prilika da se jasnije rasvetli fenomen samoostvarenja žene u kontra-kulturi dualističke jeresi na bazi poređenja sa nekim stavovima savremenog feminizma.