"Marguerite Porete said nothing as her life was taken from her. Or so goes the legend. The facts, according to reliable sources, are these: She was declared a heretic by a council of theologians, refused to recant her views, and was turned over to secular authorities by the zealous inquisitor William of Paris. According to one chronicler, on her last day, she stood "noble and devout" in Paris's Place de Grève, moments before executioners burned her alive."
"Porete reports that Godfrey said "nothing unfavorable about the book" and that, according to him, "the soul is not able to arrive at divine life or divine practice until she arrives at the practice which this book describes" ( MSS, trans. Babinsky, p. 222). Although somewhat muted, Godfrey's approval was probably sincere and influential. It may even have bought Porete some time."
Marguerite Porete faced ecclesiastical condemnation for her Mirror of Simple Souls and suffered arrest, trial, and execution for her mystical views. The Mirror was banned and publicly burned in Valenciennes around 1306. Porete resisted efforts to recant and sought assessment of her work by prominent theologians; Godfrey of Fontaines reportedly found nothing unfavorable and stated that the soul cannot reach divine life until it practices what the book describes. Church investigators labeled her obstinate for refusing investigatory oaths. Secular authorities executed her by burning at Paris's Place de Grève on June 1, 1310, after eighteen months in custody.
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