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The Movement of the Free Spirit
This book by the legendary Situationist activist and author of The Revolution of Everyday Life is a fiercely partisan historical reflection on the ways religious and economic forces have shaped Western culture. Within this broad frame, Raoul Vaneigem examines the heretical and millenarian movements that challenged social and ecclesiastical authority in Europe from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century.
Although he discusses a number of different groups, such as the Cathars and the Joachimite millenarians, his main emphasis is on the various manifestations of the movement of the Free Spirit in northern Europe. At the core of these heresies, Vaneigem sees not only resistance to the power of state and church but also the immensely creative invention of new forms of love, sexuality, community, and exchange.
Vaneigem vividly portrays the radical opposition presented by these movements to the imperatives of an emerging market-based economy, and he evokes crucial historical parallels with other anti-systemic rebellions throughout the history of the West. The book is especially valuable for its translations of original texts and source materials.
Although he discusses a number of different groups, such as the Cathars and the Joachimite millenarians, his main emphasis is on the various manifestations of the movement of the Free Spirit in northern Europe. At the core of these heresies, Vaneigem sees not only resistance to the power of state and church but also the immensely creative invention of new forms of love, sexuality, community, and exchange.
Vaneigem vividly portrays the radical opposition presented by these movements to the imperatives of an emerging market-based economy, and he evokes crucial historical parallels with other anti-systemic rebellions throughout the history of the West. The book is especially valuable for its translations of original texts and source materials.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
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About the author
Raoul Vaneigem
110 books159 followersRaoul Vaneigem (born 1934) is a Belgian writer and philosopher. He was born in Lessines (Hainaut, Belgium). After studying romance philology at the Free University of Brussels (now split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel) from 1952 to 1956, he participated in the Situationist International from 1961 to 1970. He currently resides in Belgium and is the father of four children.
Vaneigem and Guy Debord were the two principal theoreticians of the Situationist movement. Although Debord was the more disciplined thinker, Vaneigem's slogans frequently made it onto the walls of Paris during the May 1968 uprisings. His most famous book, and the one that contains the famous slogans, is The Revolution of Everyday Life (in French the title was more elaborate: Traité du savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations).
After leaving the Situationist movement Vaneigem wrote a series of polemical books defending the idea of a free and self-regulating social order. He frequently made use of pseudonyms, including "Julienne de Cherisy," "Robert Desessarts," "Jules-François Dupuis," "Tristan Hannaniel," "Anne de Launay," "Ratgeb," and "Michel Thorgal." Recently he has been an advocate of a new type of strike, in which service and transportation workers provide services for free and refuse to collect payment or fares.
From www.nothingness.org: "Along with Guy Debord, the voice of Raoul Vaneigem was one of the strongest of the Situationists. Counterpoised to Debord's political and polemic style, Vaneigem offered a more poetic and spirited prose. The Revolution of Everyday Life (Traité de savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations), published in the same year as The Society of the Spectacle, helped broaden and balance the presentation of the SI's theories and practices. One of the longest SI members, and frequent editor of the journal Internationale Situationniste, Vaneigem finally left the SI in November of 1970, citing their failures as well as his own in his letter of resignation. Soon after, Debord issued a typically scathing response denouncing both Vaneigem and his critique of the Situationist International."
Further biographical information can be found at www.nothingness.org and www.notbored.org.
Vaneigem and Guy Debord were the two principal theoreticians of the Situationist movement. Although Debord was the more disciplined thinker, Vaneigem's slogans frequently made it onto the walls of Paris during the May 1968 uprisings. His most famous book, and the one that contains the famous slogans, is The Revolution of Everyday Life (in French the title was more elaborate: Traité du savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations).
After leaving the Situationist movement Vaneigem wrote a series of polemical books defending the idea of a free and self-regulating social order. He frequently made use of pseudonyms, including "Julienne de Cherisy," "Robert Desessarts," "Jules-François Dupuis," "Tristan Hannaniel," "Anne de Launay," "Ratgeb," and "Michel Thorgal." Recently he has been an advocate of a new type of strike, in which service and transportation workers provide services for free and refuse to collect payment or fares.
From www.nothingness.org: "Along with Guy Debord, the voice of Raoul Vaneigem was one of the strongest of the Situationists. Counterpoised to Debord's political and polemic style, Vaneigem offered a more poetic and spirited prose. The Revolution of Everyday Life (Traité de savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations), published in the same year as The Society of the Spectacle, helped broaden and balance the presentation of the SI's theories and practices. One of the longest SI members, and frequent editor of the journal Internationale Situationniste, Vaneigem finally left the SI in November of 1970, citing their failures as well as his own in his letter of resignation. Soon after, Debord issued a typically scathing response denouncing both Vaneigem and his critique of the Situationist International."
Further biographical information can be found at www.nothingness.org and www.notbored.org.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 19, 2010
With the exception of Cohn's The Pursuit of the Millennium and Tuckman's A Distant Mirror, there is very little in English on the medieval religious movement surrounding the Beguines, the Beghards, and the Brethren of the Free Spirit. This work, translated from French by the former Situationist International author should have adequately filled the gap. Unfortunately, The Movement of the Free Spirit is too inconsistent to do so. Considering the fact that this was a labor of love for Vaneigem, the book fails on a number of levels. Vaneigem fails to make the case that the movement of the Free Spirit was a revolutionary movement; this is partly because he casts the movement as mainly concerned with attaining sexual liberation (i.e., pleasure) and undermining Church authority. It is too bad because a case could be made that the Beguines were a self-organized movement against poverty and gender discrimination, and represented a genuine mutual aid society with a spiritual dimension. The same claim might also be made Beghards, who imitated the Beguines in their spiritual outlook, but organized along labor lines. Vaneigem also fails to consider the movement as an authentic spiritual movement, since he has such contempt for religion, especially Christianity. What he is left with is the view that the movement of the Free Spirit was an atheistic and hedonistic movement dressed up in theological trappings, which strikes me as too reductionistic and self-serving to ring true. That said, Vaneigem does give a good overview of connecting the major figures, the orthodox and heterodox influences on and of the movement, as well as the responses of ecclesiastical and secular authorities to the movement. Vaneigem has done a tremendous amount of research. Some of his insights into the underlying motives of both "heretics" and Church authorities are really great (although others are too simplistic). Unfortunately, Vaneigem's thesis that "the middle ages were never Christian" sets the direction of the book, which is fine, but its a thesis better suited to a book like La Resistance au Christianisme.
January 21, 2024
Vaneigem's passion project is, as he himself is fully aware, not a fully objective, unopinionated look at the heresies of the middle ages. This may render the work quite unuseful for a project that aims to deeply trace the history of these movements, however Vaneigem is really not interested in writing a book that would be useful to "specialists of knowledge" he despises. His self-awareness in this regard may be dismissed as a shield from any criticism, however if you're familiar with Vaneigem's views on the role of modern science among other things, it is clear that this project could not be a totally objective look, as it would betray what Vaneigem set out to do.
And what is it that he wanted to achieve with this work, other than take pleasure in conceiving it?
As I already mention, it is not an objective look at heresies.
Vaneigem also does not aim to show how heretic communities displayed pre-socialist elements. He does mention them when he needs to describe the free spirit practices of the community, however it is not his focus here.
What Vaneigem means to do here is to trace the literal movement of the Free Spirit. Quite obvious if you consider the title, however there is a degree of expectation regarding a work like this, from a writer like Vaneigem, especially when you consider his history in SI.
In this book, Vaneigem takes a look at heresies and their practices that clearly demonstrate how they fit within the Movement of the Free Spirit, how the Free Spirit changes and differs between these communities, how, despite the Church's persecution, it remained and often revitilised itself with increased strength and conviction. What Vaneigem aims to show here is first and foremost that "the middle ages were as christian, as the countries of eastern Europe were communist". He does not question here that christianity was the dominant system in Europe, what he wants to show is that the "christian unity" of the middle ages was a myth, similarily to how the apparent capitalist status quo is a myth as well, as there are ruptures where people alienated by capital rediscover the real will to live. The Free Spirit worked against the catholic doctrine of inverted desire that was nothing but suffering. Vaneigem shows that this idea, that people could live happier lives filled with pleasure and without dead time, is not a new thing, that people always rebelled against the systems that disregared pleasure in exchange for suffering, that even within the "united christianity" of the middle ages there was a myriad of movements that were meant to serve people and not the opposite.
Vaneigem is not however uncritical of these movements, as, as much as they showed the real will to live, some still were plagued by diseases of misoginy, approved of violent acts that in actuality work against the true liberation of man, and more. Still they did in some form fit within the Movement of the Free Spirit, which for this work is the most crucial thing.
Vaneigem's potency as a writer is still very clearly visible in this work. While a large portion of the book is reserved for quotes (perhaps even too much considering its overall length) in the passages Vaneigem wrote himself (that are still the vast majority) his brilliance that was so clearly shown in The Revolution of Everyday Life manages to show itself here too.
Vaneigem is a very unique thinker. From his work at SI, including Banalités de base and Traité, to his post SI work on surrealism and religion, his interests and ideas are vast yet still coherent and fit within the same framework, where he manages to connect them. This is in no small part thanks to his profound talent as a writer and raw potency as a thinker.The Movement of the Free Spirit demonstrates that as well.
And what is it that he wanted to achieve with this work, other than take pleasure in conceiving it?
As I already mention, it is not an objective look at heresies.
Vaneigem also does not aim to show how heretic communities displayed pre-socialist elements. He does mention them when he needs to describe the free spirit practices of the community, however it is not his focus here.
What Vaneigem means to do here is to trace the literal movement of the Free Spirit. Quite obvious if you consider the title, however there is a degree of expectation regarding a work like this, from a writer like Vaneigem, especially when you consider his history in SI.
In this book, Vaneigem takes a look at heresies and their practices that clearly demonstrate how they fit within the Movement of the Free Spirit, how the Free Spirit changes and differs between these communities, how, despite the Church's persecution, it remained and often revitilised itself with increased strength and conviction. What Vaneigem aims to show here is first and foremost that "the middle ages were as christian, as the countries of eastern Europe were communist". He does not question here that christianity was the dominant system in Europe, what he wants to show is that the "christian unity" of the middle ages was a myth, similarily to how the apparent capitalist status quo is a myth as well, as there are ruptures where people alienated by capital rediscover the real will to live. The Free Spirit worked against the catholic doctrine of inverted desire that was nothing but suffering. Vaneigem shows that this idea, that people could live happier lives filled with pleasure and without dead time, is not a new thing, that people always rebelled against the systems that disregared pleasure in exchange for suffering, that even within the "united christianity" of the middle ages there was a myriad of movements that were meant to serve people and not the opposite.
Vaneigem is not however uncritical of these movements, as, as much as they showed the real will to live, some still were plagued by diseases of misoginy, approved of violent acts that in actuality work against the true liberation of man, and more. Still they did in some form fit within the Movement of the Free Spirit, which for this work is the most crucial thing.
Vaneigem's potency as a writer is still very clearly visible in this work. While a large portion of the book is reserved for quotes (perhaps even too much considering its overall length) in the passages Vaneigem wrote himself (that are still the vast majority) his brilliance that was so clearly shown in The Revolution of Everyday Life manages to show itself here too.
Vaneigem is a very unique thinker. From his work at SI, including Banalités de base and Traité, to his post SI work on surrealism and religion, his interests and ideas are vast yet still coherent and fit within the same framework, where he manages to connect them. This is in no small part thanks to his profound talent as a writer and raw potency as a thinker.The Movement of the Free Spirit demonstrates that as well.
November 17, 2007
This is probably the best of the Situationist texts that are available. Kinda wonder just a little bit how much is fact and how much is myth making and romanticizing (probably a lot). Still, it is interesting to backtrack and see where progressive thought has been and where it may be heading. In the end you'll feel that radical ideas have been around for a long time. Perhaps you will be perplexed as to why little has come of them? I kinda was.
This is from a very European perspective, so it only gets three stars.
This is from a very European perspective, so it only gets three stars.
November 21, 2007
I read this book out of respect for Vaneigem's former occupation as a Situationist and my own budding interest in pre-modern heretical mysticisms. Sadly, Vaneigem's glosses on the revolutionary potential of these heretical enclaves is borderline ridiculous and shot through with the ugliest of historical teleologies. This volume is valuable, however, for the many moving translations of medieval primary and early-modern secondary documents.
October 25, 2017
Re-read, 10/2017: Vaneigem's study of heresy and the people who partake in it, in the interest of freeing themselves, is a fascinating study. Almost a precursor to concepts he discussed in The Revolution of Everyday Life, presented decades after the fact.
an interesting study of heretical catholic offshoots.
an interesting study of heretical catholic offshoots.
November 29, 2025
I was quite taken with this book when I read it in 2004 in a small village in central Italy. I was needing something that spoke against the church, and his (though admittedly eclectic) provision of a whole history of one was very welcome. I don't remember if this is what led me on to reading about the Cathars or if that came before.
I think I'd like to return to this book with older more mature eyes. I feel Vaneigem took some liberties in his account. But it is immensely valuable both as a historical project and an intervention in the now where crimes of organised religion against innocent people have been largely forgotten.
I think I'd like to return to this book with older more mature eyes. I feel Vaneigem took some liberties in his account. But it is immensely valuable both as a historical project and an intervention in the now where crimes of organised religion against innocent people have been largely forgotten.
January 1, 2023
A fantastic historical investigation of Christian (sic.) heretical movements and an analysis thereof. I was shocked by the actual inclusion of accounts and dialogues of the heresiarch's interrogations. This book is simply way too good to be this obscure, and stands as the pinnacle of his work completed after the dissolution of the Situationist International, and puts a fair amount of his work within it firmly under its shadow
March 25, 2020
superlatively good
June 30, 2012
A bit torn on how to rate this one this-- I rather liked the middle chapters, which are basically a sourcebook of very interesting material, but I was alternately bored and irritated by the introductory and concluding chapters, which filter that interesting original material through the lens of Vaneigem's own philosophy.
July 8, 2011
This is an important and painstakingly researched book, which examines in great detail (verbatim accounts of trials, etc.) the various heretical and free-spirited groups, who, from the 1200s into the 1500s, organised themselves against the prevailing tyranny of the catholic church.
June 24, 2007
lots of interesting stories about people who didn't want to work during the middle ages and/or didn't worship like catholics.
July 4, 2007
Totally, utterly unreadable. The book version of getting drunk with a waffling, poetry-loving Frenchman who won't shut up.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews