hile a still more important counterpoise presented itself, in the
appearance of the sect of Patarenes, towards the close of the twelfth
century. The sect was founded by an Armenian doctor, named Basil, who
was burnt for his opinions by the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, and whose
followers, being banished, retired into Bulgaria, where they made many
converts, and took the name of Bogomili--'chosen of God,' or 'implorers
of God's mercy.' They thence spread their tenets into France by means
of pilgrims and traders, who were on their return to that country, and
by degrees laid the seeds of doctrines subsequently taken up by Peter
Bruysius, and afterwards by Henry and by Peter Valdo, the founder of the
Waldenses, and by others in other places. Availing themselves of the
various Caliphs' tolerance of all Christian sects, they carried their
opinions with their commerce into Africa, Spain, and finally into
Languedoc, a neighbouring province, to Moorish Iberia, where Raymond,
Count of Toulouse, gave them shelter and protection.[F]

The same opinions were held by the Paulicians of Spain, who, having
received much encouragement from the Kings of Arragon and Castile, also
disseminated their doctrines throughout France, in the southern
provinces of which they met with great success. There they received the
name of Albigenses, from the town of Albiga or Alby. They afterwards
spread into Italy, where they received the name of 'Patarenes,' as some
suppose from the 'sufferings' which they endured, though other fanciful
reasons are assigned for the bestowal of the name. The tenets of these
early reformers 'have been transmitted through various sects under the
different denominations of Vallenses, Paulicians, Patarenes, Cathari
(Puritans), Bogomili, Albigenses, Waldenses, Lollards, Bohemian Brethren
or Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists, and other Protestants to the present
day.' No very lucid account of their articles of faith has been handed
down to our times, and some suppose that they entertained the Manichaean
doctrines of the existence of the two principles, and of the creation of
the spiritual world by the good, and of matter by the evil One.
Krasinski appears to favour this supposition; but it is far more
probable that, with the name indiscriminately bestowed as a term of
opprobrium upon all who differed from the canons of the Romish Church,
they have received the credit of supporting the doctrines of the
Manichaeans. This much, however,