ABSTRACT
There were others who were not prepared to honour the clergy or to deny women freedom of movement and male society. What happened to them? If, when they fell foul of the authorities, they continued to preach and to inspire and direct their adherents in defiance of prohibition they were condemned as heretics, and risked ending their careers violently or in prison. But details about their lives, their teachings and beliefs all too often escape us, and the evidence we have is often misleading and difficult to interpret. There is little information, and that little comes mostly from their enemies, prejudiced in advance, from converts to orthodoxy, eager to denigrate their former associates, or from later documents. There is enough to tantalise and to intrigue.
