Page 59 - History of War - Issue 30-16

FRANCE’S HERETIC WAR

“THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE WAS

THE FIRST HOLY WAR SANCTIONED BY

THE POPE AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
AGAINST WESTERN EUROPEANS”

After the massacre at Béziers,
the crusaders besieged the
city of Carcassonne, another
Cathar stronghold

the Kingdom of Aragon stronger. The division of evil and one good. The benevolent god was was sent as the new legate in 1203, but by
power between the local aristocracy, clergy and the master of the spiritual realm, while the evil 1207 he also was not able to end the problem.
wealthy burghers was an ideal environment for god was the overlord of the physical world. A Peter then directed his anger towards
the Cathar ‘heresy’ to l ourish. major reason why there was so much animosity Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse, who had
between the Cathars and Catholics was promised to church ofi cials that he would rid
Roots of heresy because the former group believed that the his lands of heresy in 1205, but failed to keep
It is unknown exactly when Catharism reached Church of Rome and its clergy were the main these promises over the following years. After
Languedoc, but what’s certain is that it was servants of the malicious god on Earth. his failure to fuli l his oath and eradicate the
i rmly established in the region by the middle Prominent churchmen in Languedoc pleaded Cathar heresy, Peter had Raymond removed.
of the 12th century. By the 1170s, Albi had for the local Catholic nobility to root out the It was the third time the count had been
become the location of the i rst Cathar diocese, heresy in their lands, but the magnates of condemned by the Church. Even though he
which is where the title Albigensian Crusade southern France refused. Eventually, Pope had managed to i nd his way back into its
originated. The Cathars were highly inl uenced Innocent III began to send his legates to the good graces before, Raymond worried his luck
by dualism, which had spread to southern region to preach against the heresy and warned would run out. Therefore, the Count of Toulouse
France from Eastern Europe and beyond. of the dire consequences they would face if invited the legate to his court for Christmas © Jose Cabrera
According to the dualist theology of the they supported the Cathars. After the i rst to discuss every issue. Raymond promised to
Cathars, there were two separate gods, one legatine missions failed, Peter of Castelnau obey any orders of the Church Peter gave him.

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