D urán of H uesca (c. 1160–1230): A W aldensian Seeking a Remedy to Heresy

Despite the debates about the nature of medieval heresy, especially the C athars and the W aldensians, in recent scholarship, very little attention has been given to D urán of H uesca, a S panish W aldensian who wrote two anti‐heretical treatises before and after he was reconciled with the R oman C hurch in 1207. This article examines how D urán's decisions to join the W aldensians and later to return to the C atholic C hurch were motivated by his commitment to defending the sacraments and the I ncarnation against what he saw as dualist heresy. That his major decisions were in response to this heresy suggests that while old scholarship might overemphasise the cohesiveness of heresy in the south of F rance, it is important not to dismiss the existence of explicit heretical belief altogether. Moreover, the centrality of the I ncarnation and the sacraments in D urán's shifts in association reveals that the W aldensians were active, rather than passive, participants in shaping how the C hurch hierarchy and other dissident groups perceived and categorised them.