Porreta Margareta

Porreta Margareta one of the numerous victims of religious intolerance in the Middle Ages, was born in Hainault, and published at Paris a book which, according to the decision of the theologians who examined it, contained a number of errors and heresies, "et inter caeteras (hoereses) quod anima annihilata in amore conditoris sine reprehensione conscientite vel remorsu potest et debet naturae, quidquid appetit et desiderat concedere." These errors the foolish woman refused to retract, and as she also scorned the excommunication visited upon her by the Inquisition, the Church delivered her up to the secular arm for execution. At the stake she is said to have changed her mind, and to have died with great signs of repentance; but for this we have only the testimony of the priests who attended her in her last hours as her persecutors.