About 1018 the 'Manichaean' teachings appeared in Aquitaine; this sect not only rejected both baptism and the Cross but apparently observed strict asceticism. Ten years later, ten of the canons of the Church of the Holy Cross at Orleans were accused of being 'Manichaeans' and of worshipping the devil. These canons, which included the confessor of Queen Constance, rejected the sacraments of the Church and denied the human birth of Christ together with the reality of his Passion and Resurrection. Brought to trial before the King, Robert 'the Pious', and an assemblage of bishops, these heretics were consigned to the flames, yet not before Queen Constance struck out the eye of her former confessor. Source: Leo van de Pas