CANTOR (LE CHANTRE), GILLES (GIL). - The name of an illiterate layman reputed to have been the founder of a religious sect that flourished, between the end of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th, in Brussels and Flanders.
The followers called themselves Homines intelligentiae and, as regards beliefs, appear to have been akin to the early “Brethren of the Free Spirit.” Among the more prominent adherents whom C. attracted to his group was the Carmelite Guglielmo di Hindernissen, near Bergenop-Zoom, formerly prior at Malines and Brussels. The members of the group rejected prayer, Purgatory, the eternity of punishments, and the cult of images. They did, however, admit lust as a requirement of the flesh and eternal salvation for all, not excluding Satan himself. Pietro di Ailly, bishop of Cambrai, acted against the feverish activity of C. in 1410; it is unknown, however, by what means and with what result.