Currently reading Europe by Norman Davies (a large volume covering the beginning of time to the present day). I've got as far as the Medieval period so far.
I'm particularly interested in the short section on Bogomilism.
The Wikipedia entry on Bogomilism begins:
Bogomilism was a Gnostic religiopolitical sect founded in
the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Petar
I in the 10th century. It most probably arose in what is today the
region of Macedonia as a response to the social stratification that
occurred as a result of the introduction of feudalism and as a form of
political movement and opposition to the Bulgarian state and the church.
The Bogomils called for a return to early Christianity,
rejecting the ecclesiastical hierarchy, and their primary political tendencies
were resistance to the state and church authorities. This helped the movement
spread quickly in the Balkans, gradually expanding throughout the Byzantine
Empire and later reaching Kievan Rus', Bosnia, Dalmatia, Rascia, Italy, France.
The Bogomils were dualists in that they believed the world
was created not by the Abrahamic God, but by an evil demiurge — the Devil. They
did not use the cross nor build churches, preferring to perform rituals
outdoors.
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