A Canon of Brescia
Arnold was born around 1090 in Brescia, in Lombardy. Otto of Freising, a writer of his own century, says he studied in France under Peter Abelard, the most brilliant and controversial teacher of the age, though some modern scholars doubt it. Back in Brescia he became a canon regular, a priest living in community under a rule, and the prior of his house.
Even his enemies granted that he lived what he preached. John of Salisbury, who disapproved of him, describes an austere man, a forceful preacher, and a despiser of the world. His message was simple and dangerous: the clergy must give up their wealth and their worldly rule. As Otto of Freising reports him, he taught that clergy who held property, bishops who held the rights of princes, and monks who owned estates could not be saved. Such things belonged to the prince and should be handed over to the laity.
In Brescia, where the bishop was also a lord of the city, Arnold took the citizens' side against him. In 1139 the Second Lateran Council condemned Arnold and banished him from Italy.
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