ABSTRACT
On 18 February 1238, a man called Raymond John appeared before an inquisitor called Ferrier, and took an oath ‘to tell the truth about himself and about others, both living and dead, on the accusation of heresy and Waldensianism’. Raymond came from the southern French cathedral city of Albi and he talked to Ferrier about Cathar heretics. Towards the end of the next century, a man called Hermann Gossaw was having a similar experience. Early in December, he appeared in Szczecin, on the Baltic coast, before an inquisitor called Peter Zwicker and took an oath to tell the truth. Hermann came from the village of Nowe Objezierze, and he talked to the inquisitor about Waldensian heretics. The Church regarded both of these men as heretics. The records of their interrogations survive, and will be examined in this chapter.1
