flagellants

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English - English
Medieval religious sects that included public beatings with whips as part of their discipline and devotional practice. Flagellant sects arose in northern Italy, and had become large and widespread by 1260. Groups marched through European towns, whipping each other to atone for their sins and calling on the populace to repent. They gained many new members in the mid-14th century while the Black Death was ravaging Europe. Though periodically suppressed by the authorities, flagellant sects enjoyed sporadic resurgences into the 16th century
plural of flagellant
flagellant
A member of a religious order that preaches self-mortification as a means of absolution
flagellant
{s} whipping; harshly critical
flagellant
One of a fanatical sect which flourished in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries, and maintained that flagellation was of equal virtue with baptism and the sacrament; called also disciplinant
flagellant
a person who whips himself as a religious penance
flagellant
a person who whips himself as a religious penance a person who is whipped or whips himself for sexual gratification
flagellant
someone who whips themselves, especially as a religious punishment
flagellant
One who practices flagellating oneself, either for penance
flagellant
a person who is whipped or whips himself for sexual gratification
flagellant
{i} one who whips himself as part of a religious rite; one who whips himself or others