While the Waldenses flourished in Provence, various heretical sects arose in the west of Germany and in the Netherlands; prominent among them were the Apostolics, who took the Gospels literally, and introduced communism and polygamy, and the communities of the Beghards and Beguines, which roused little public attention, and did not aim at reform, but advocated a life of contemplation.  They found supporters in all ranks of the community, and were connected with the later German mystics.  An indictment preserved for us proves the religious originality of one of those sects, “The Brethren of the Free Spirit,” who upheld the heretical view that it were better that one man should attain to spiritual perfection than that a hundred monasteries should be founded.  At the same time the inspired seer and hysterical nun, Hildegarde of Bingen, wrote wild letters to the popes, denouncing the vice existing in the Church and the degradation of religion.  “But thou, oh Rome, who art well-nigh at the point of death, thou wilt be shaken so that the strength of thy feet shall forsake thee, because thou hast not loved the royal maiden righteousness with an ardent love, but with the torpor of sleep, and thou hast become a stranger to her.  Therefore she will desert thee if thou do not call her back.”  Pope Adrian IV. replied, almost humbly:  “We long to hear words of warning from you, because men say that you are endowed with the spirit of the divine miracles.”  St. Bernard craved Hildegarde’s prayer, two emperors, popes, bishops and abbots corresponded with her, requesting her prayer and advice, and the interpretation of difficult passages of the Scriptures.  Hildegarde replied in an obscure, apocalyptical language:  “In the mysteries of the true wisdom have I seen and heard this.”

Prophets predicting the revival of the Gospel of Christ and the regeneration of the world appeared in the north and south.  The Italian monk and fanatic, Joachim of Floris (about A.D. 1200), preached that this regeneration was predestined to happen.  A precursor of Hegel, he taught three eras:  the dominion of the Father, or the first era, characterised by fear and the severity of the law; the dominion of the Son, or the era of faith and compassion; and the dominion of the Holy Ghost, or the era of love.  This last era was beginning to dawn, and in many places Joachim’s words were regarded as the prophecies of a seer.  Thus the monk, Gerhard of Borgo San Domino, claimed for the dawning third era the preaching of a new gospel of the Holy Ghost, an unmistakable proof that the spirit of heresy was the outcome of religious enthusiasm.