In 1310, a woman was led into the center of Paris and burned alive. Her name was Marguerite Porete. Her crime was not violence, conspiracy, or rebellion. It was writing a book.

Between 1296 and 1306, the Bishop of Cambrai condemned her book as heretical. He ordered it burned publicly and commanded Marguerite never to circulate it again. She refused. She believed her work carried divine truth and would not retract it.

In 1308, she was arrested and handed over to the Inquisitor of France, William of Paris, a Dominican friar connected to King Philip IV. She was imprisoned in Paris for about eighteen months.

During her trial, Marguerite refused to take the required oath or answer questions. Her silence was deliberate. Church authorities offered her chances to recant. Others had saved their lives by admitting error. She would not.

A group of theologians from the University of Paris examined her book and identified fifteen statements they judged heretical. One was the idea that a soul united with God could “give nature what it desires” without sin. This was seen as undermining moral discipline and Church authority.

On May 31, 1310, she was formally declared a relapsed heretic. The next day, June 1, she was taken to the Place de Grève in Paris for execution. She was handed to secular authorities and burned at the stake.

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