Arnold of Brescia

Who was Arnold of Brescia?

Arnold of Brescia, also known as Arnaldus, was an Italian canon regular from Lombardy. He called on the Church to renounce property ownership and participated in the failed Commune of Rome.

Eventually arrested, he was hanged by the papacy, burned posthumously, and then had his ashes thrown into the River Tiber. Though as a religious reformer and a political leader Arnold failed, his teachings on apostolic poverty gained currency after his death among "Arnoldists" and more widely among Waldensians and the Spiritual Franciscans, though no written word of his has survived the official condemnation. Protestants rank him among the precursors of the Reformation.