A crusade fought against heretics over a wide area of southern France, stretching from the delta of the Rhône in the east as far as Agen in the west and from the Pyrenees north as far as Cahors. The origins of the crusade lay in two differing but related areas: the political and social history of Languedoc in the twelfth century, and the growth of the Waldensian and Cathar heresies.
In the absence of any influence by the kings of France, the region was divided between two great families that struggled for hegemony. The counts of Toulouse held territory that covered the whole diocese of Toulouse, Quercy, the Rou- ergue, the Agenais, and the marquisate of Provence. They also exercised overlordship in the Rhône delta and Valley, in parts of the Auvergne, and in part of the county of Foix. The other important family was the counts of Barcelona, who from 1137 were also kings of Aragon. They had very little territory in the region, apart from the county of Provence, which they had gained through marriage in 1112, on the eastern side of the Rhône. However, they often opposed the counts of Toulouse through the Trencavels, viscounts of Béziers and Carcassonne, who dominated the Béziers-Car- cassonne-Albi region and were frequently clients and from 1179 vassals of the king of Aragon. Along the coastal strip were the small principalities of Montpellier and Narbonne, which maneuvered to maintain their independence during the twelfth century. A series of wars forced them into alliance with Aragon, and in 1198 Count Raymond VI of Toulouse acknowledged his failure to control the coastal strip when he signed the Treaty of Perpignan with the king of Aragon. This left him with his lands divided between the Rhône delta and the Toulousain to the west. During the twelfth century Toulouse was an object of interest to the dukes of Aquitaine, who claimed the county through Philippa, daughter of William IV of Toulouse, who had married William IX, duke of Aquitaine. That claim was eventually transmitted to King Henry II of England by his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine and used as a pretext for interference.
Areas of the Albigensian Crusade and the Inquisition in Southern France
Continual warfare and probably a lack of real resources meant that the counts of Toulouse were relatively weak rulers. Like other parts of western Europe, Languedoc experienced a wave of castle building, which began in the later tenth century and continued unabated until the thirteenth. Most of these castles were in the hands of minor members of the aristocracy, and during the twelfth century many of these men were able to behave like petty sovereigns. Such men ruled their territories from castles and lived surrounded by a court. Raymond of Termes, for example, “an avowed heretic ... feared neither God nor man. He had such confidence in his fortress that he fought both the count of Toulouse, and his own suzerain, the viscount of Béziers” [Histoire Albigeoise de Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay, pp. 71-72].
It was in these circumstances that both the Waldensian and Cathar heresies appeared and flourished. The Waldensians, named after their founder, Peter Valdes, a merchant of Lyons, were expelled from Lyons in 1182 for persistently preaching the Gospel to laymen without either formal education, holy orders, or authority. In addition they provided the Gospels in the vernacular.
Catharism seems to have been established in the Toulousain by about 1165 and between 1174 and 1177 was organized into a structure of dioceses with local bishops, as well as traveling perfecti (perfect ones) who preached and administered the consolamentum (the only sacrament among the Cathars, consisting of a transmission of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands) and deacons who acted somewhat like parish priests. In 1177 Count Raymond V of Toulouse made a dramatic appeal to the chapter-general of the Cistercian Order describing the spread of the heresy as like a disease. By the time of the crusade, Catharism was widespread across Languedoc, but the greatest concentration was in the Toulousain, in Foix, and in the Carcassonnais. Strong in the many small towns, as well as in large centers such as Toulouse, it appealed to merchants and craftsmen in a society that was becoming industrialized in the towns, where the manufacture of cloth had become widespread and important. In the countryside it found sympathizers in a world where town merchants and bankers were involved in sheep-raising and from which the growing town populations were drawn. Among the nobility at all levels, both in towns and the castles of the countryside, Catharism was strong. It was an expression of independence as well as a sign of the problems many had in their relationships with local religious communities. Esclarmonde, sister of the count of Foix, was a perfecta and was consoled at Fanjeaux in the presence of a large gathering of nobility around 1204. The count appointed her head of a convent of Cathar perfectae at Pamiers and was certainly a sympathizer himself. Raymond VI, count of Toulouse, while perhaps not a believer in Catharism, was certainly tolerant of it and was not a fervent Catholic, living excommunicated for long periods. Thus the most senior prince in Languedoc was a lukewarm supporter of the church hierarchy, and more importantly, was unable to contemplate military action against so many of his own people.
The church in Languedoc found itself without the natural support it expected from secular authority in its attempts to suppress heresy. It was also hampered by uneven quality within its own ranks. The archbishop of Narbonne, Berenger (1191-1212), was a pluralist noted for his scandalous conduct, who retained his see for several years despite vigorous efforts to remove him. The bishop of Toulouse, Raymond of Rabastens, ruined the finances of his diocese by fighting a war against his vassals. Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was anxious to see the heresy crushed and appointed a series of legates to carry out his policies in Languedoc. Although they were able to carry through some reforms, they were not able to influence the conduct and policies of Raymond VI of Toulouse. The legates blamed him for the deterioration of relations between the church and secular authorities. They became increasingly angry and intransigent as direct attempts to convert the heretics by preaching failed, and Raymond refused to implement the canons of the church that called for action against heretics and their supporters. The defining moment came with the murder of the pope’s legate, Peter of Castelnau, by a follower of Raymond VI near Saint-Gilles on 14 January 1208. For the pope, besides the natural anger at the insult to his authority of the murder of his own legate, there was an increasing concern about the challenge to the authority of the church from a well-organized group of heretics and equally the refusal of the local nobility to heed the calls to action.
The pope called a crusade, which was preached in northern France and surrounding areas by the Cistercians, led by Arnold Amalric, abbot of Cîteaux and head of the order. He received an enthusiastic response. Partly this was the result of a desire for loot, but there was also a fervent hatred of the unorthodox, the result of increasing definition of Catholic doctrines, which thereby also marked those who were outsiders. One consequence had already manifested itself in attacks made upon the Jews of northern France and England, and in the heretics of Languedoc the northerners perceived a contagion that they were anxious to eliminate.
The crusade attracted a large number of men of good family and prestigious connections. Among them were Odo, duke of Burgundy; Hervé, count of Nevers; Peter of Courtenay, count of Auxerre; and William of Roches, seneschal of Anjou; as well as many of slightly lesser rank such as Guy of Lévis; Gaucher of Joigny, lord of Beaujeu; and of course Simon of Montfort. Many senior churchmen, especially from Burgundy, also took part, among them the archbishop of Sens and the bishops of Autun, Nevers, and Clermont as well as members of monastic orders. The bulk of the army seems to have been recruited from Burgundy and other eastern parts of France, but there were contingents from the Saintonge, Poitou, and Gascony as well as Germany. Partly this may be explained as a result of the bias toward the East among the aristocratic recruits, who brought many followers with them; but the high density of Cistercian houses in that region had also resulted in more intensive preaching of the crusade.
The crusaders assembled at Lyons in June 1209 under the leadership of Arnold Amalric, and the very large force moved down the Rhône Valley and into the lands of Raymond VI. He offered himself to the church as a penitent and on 18 June 1209 was reconciled in a humiliating ceremony at Saint- Gilles. His lands were thus made safe from attack, and the crusaders turned their attentions to the lands of Raymond- Roger Trencavel, viscount of Béziers and Carcassonne. The first town to be assaulted was Béziers, which was sacked and the population massacred. This was the occasion on which a crusader, having asked Arnold Amalric how they should tell the Catholics from the heretics, was told, “Kill them all, God will know his own” [Caesarius Heiserbacensis monachi ordinis Cisterciensis, Dialogus miraculorum, 2:296-298]. The story is probably apocryphal. Nevertheless, the crusaders reported that they had slaughtered 20,000 people, and although this, too, is almost certainly a gross exaggeration, it is a sign of their intentions.
Saint Dominic and the Albigensians, by Pedro Berruguete, fifteenth century. (Archivo Iconograpfico, S.A./Corbis)
The army moved on to Carcassonne, to which the viscount and his court had fled and which was in a state of defense. The crusaders began their attack on 1 August, and on 15 August the town surrendered after the viscount had been seized while discussing terms under a safe conduct. He later died in prison. The townspeople were turned out, and the place became the headquarters of the crusaders, who elected Simon of Montfort as their leader and as viscount of Béziers and Carcassonne.
Simon of Montfort immediately received the surrender of other towns in the lands of the viscount and began to burn heretics where he could find them. During the winter of 1209-1210 he saw his position weaken as his crusaders returned home, but the following spring he regained lost ground as fresh crusaders arrived. He set out to reduce the great fortresses of Minèrve, Termes, and Cabaret, which controlled the surrounding countryside. The fall of Minèrve was followed by the burning alive of about 140 Cathar perfecti, both men and women, a pattern that was to be followed as other towns fell. Lavaur, a town quite close to Toulouse and part of the possessions of the viscount of Carcassonne, was stormed. The lord and his knights who had defended the town were hanged, and the lady Geralda, his sister, was thrown down a well and killed when stones were hurled down on top of her. Their deaths were followed by the burning of 400 heretics.
The next phase of the crusade extended the attack to the lands of Raymond VI of Toulouse, who was pressed to meet humiliating conditions and excommunicated when he refused. During the summers of 1211 and 1212 Simon of Montfort’s forces campaigned across the whole of Languedoc. By the end of the 1212 season much of the countryside, as far to the west as the Agenais and south as far as Foix, was in his hands, although the major towns, Toulouse included, held out against him. At first Simon accepted the submission of southern noblemen and regranted towns and castles to them. When it became apparent that these men would throw off their allegiance as soon as they could, he began to grant lands to his followers. A parliament at Pamiers held on 1 December 1212 tried to introduce northern legal practices, such as inheritance rules, and to bar southerners from control of castles. It was a sign that the crusade had entered a new phase in which the northern soldiers would begin to make permanent settlements in the south.
The battle of Muret (12 September 1213) marked a turning point in the campaigning. Simon of Montfort’s small force defeated a much larger army led by Raymond VI of Toulouse and King Peter II of Aragon. The king was killed and the southerners routed. Although Toulouse itself did not fall, Raymond VI was now a fugitive and all of the rest of the south was under Simon’s control. He assumed the title of count of Toulouse and with the enthusiastic support of the local church hierarchy so reduced the area that only Toulouse itself was outside his control. The pope now intervened, protecting Toulouse from further attack and calling the Fourth Lateran Council.
The council (November 1215) was primarily concerned with settling affairs inside Christendom in such a way that a new crusade to the Holy Land would be possible. A settlement for Languedoc, which the pope now ordered, was ancillary to the ecclesiastical work. The pope proposed to carry through his claim to be able to depose secular rulers by taking the county of Toulouse from Raymond VI, as punishment for his support of the heretics, and recognizing Simon of Montfort as count in his place. The new settlement was not accepted by the majority of southerners, and Raymond VI and his son, “the Young Raymond (VII),” returned to Languedoc from Rome determined to continue the war with new support. Both men were now active. The ensuing campaign continued to be a disaster for the south as Simon of Montfort took control of Toulouse for a while and destroyed its walls. In the autumn of 1217 Raymond VI was invited back to the city, which defied Simon. A long siege followed. Simon of Montfort was killed on 25 June 1218 when he was struck on the head by a stone fired from an engine, supposedly worked by women: according to a contemporary chronicler, “the stone arrived just where needed” [La Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise, ed. and trans. E. Martin-Chabot, 3d ed. (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1976), 3:207]. His son Amalric was unable to continue the siege. Over the next few years he lost ground to the southerners, now led increasingly by Raymond VII, who succeeded to his father’s claims when Raymond VI died in 1222. On 25 January 1224, the bankrupt Amalric of Montfort retired to the family lands near Paris, taking his father’s body with him. Raymond Trencavel, the son of Raymond-Roger Trencavel, reentered Carcassonne as viscount.
This was the sign for a determined intervention by the French king. During his father’s lifetime, Prince Louis (VIII) had already made a formal entry to the crusade in 1219, when he had briefly campaigned as a crusader in the Toulousain. In January 1226 the legate Cardinal Romain excommunicated Raymond VII, and King Louis VIII immediately began a crusade in the Languedoc. He made progress through the region during the summer of 1226, and the exhausted towns and villages submitted: only Toulouse stood out against him. Carcassonne surrendered, and a seneschal was installed as the king’s military governor in the area. Although Louis died unexpectedly in Languedoc in November 1226, the regency government of Louis IX, led by his mother, Blanche of Castile, continued the policy of conquest. In April 1229 Raymond VII signed the Treaty of Meaux, by which he acknowledged the authority of the king of France. He also had to allow the church to pursue the heretics and had to agree for his heir, his only legitimate child, Jeanne, to marry the king’s younger brother Alphonse of Poitiers. Thereafter, until his death in 1249, Raymond VII of Toulouse remained reluctant to cooperate with the church and used much energy seeking a new wife and a possible male heir. His one attempt at a rebellion, in 1242, collapsed when Henry III of England was defeated at the battle of Taillebourg (July) and failed to come to his aid.
A consequence of the revolt was a determination by the French government to destroy the last major group of per- fecti and their sympathizers, ensconced in the castle of Montségur, which had been refortified in 1204 by Raymond of Péreille, a member of a Cathar family. The hilltop, with its castle and village, had been a refuge for heretics for many years, and from 1232 the Cathar bishop of Carcassonne had lived there. It was besieged in the spring of 1243 by an army led by the seneschal of Carcassonne, and it finally surrendered in March 1244. The inhabitants and the professional garrison were allowed to leave, but the Cathar perfecti, including the bishop Bertrand Marty, remained behind. On 16 March 1244 they came quietly down the hill and allowed themselves to be consigned to the flames of a great fire built within a palisaded enclosure. About 200 people died.
The dramatic destruction of so many perfecti was the result of a coordinated campaign of persecution that had begun after the Treaty of Meaux. When it became apparent that local bishops could not deal adequately with the situation, Pope Gregory IX set up an Inquisition. It covered the whole of the Languedoc and was staffed by Dominican friars (April 1233). For the first time there was a permanent body in existence dedicated to the destruction of heresy and run by a body of well-trained men. Although they exercised a judicial function, they acted by questioning their suspects and all witnesses, on oath and in secret. There was no formal trial, and since no charges were brought against suspects, the suspects had no right to know the evidence alleged against them, no right to examine witnesses or to call witnesses in their defense, and no right to legal representation. There was no limit of time on their detention. Over the years the Inquisition developed a body of expertise that was passed on in written manuals. With the backing of the secular authorities, enormous numbers of people were questioned. Starting in the larger towns, the inquisitors were aided by perfecti who converted to Catholicism. Gradually the net was widened to take in smaller towns and rural areas. It is likely that during 1245-1246 about 10,000 people were questioned in Toulouse, and a minimum of 203 condemnations were recorded. Similar activity occurred throughout the Languedoc. After the bull Ad Extirpandum of 1252, the inquisitors were authorized to use torture in their work. The Inquisition was active in the region until the end of the century.
Battle of Muret (1213), from the Grandes Chroniques de France (1375-1379). (The Art Archive/Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris)
The effect on the Cathars was immense. The system used by the Inquisition disrupted the functioning of groups of believers by introducing suspicion of those who had been questioned and then released. Those who were condemned faced a variety of punishments and disabilities. Perfecti were normally condemned to death if they refused to recant. Most refused and were burnt. The vast majority of Cathars were believers rather than perfecti, and most of them recanted when faced with death. Others were sympathizers or merely associated with Cathars, and they too faced punishment. Those who only recanted at the last moment and were adjudged reluctant converts were imprisoned for life and lost their property. Others suffered a variety of penances. Some were sent on pilgrimages; many others were condemned to wear yellow crosses prominently displayed on their garments. Many Cathars were condemned after their deaths and their remains dug up and burnt. Their descendants were usually excluded from public office for two generations. Other Cathars fled, either to Aragon, which soon ceased to be a refuge, or to Italy, where Catharism continued to flourish for many years.
Although Catharism continued to exist as a belief throughout the thirteenth century and into the early years of the fourteenth, the unrelenting pressure of the Inquisition stopped the spread of the heresy and cut off its connections with the great nobility and the rural aristocracy. The heretics who were condemned in the village of Montaillou in the early fourteenth century were mostly peasants, with only a debased understanding of the tenets of their faith. Between 1308 and 1321, twenty-five believers were burnt to death, mostly in Toulouse. The last perfectus to be executed was Guilhem Belibaste, burnt to death at Villerouge-Termenès in 1321.
Although the fighting of the crusade was long over, the work of the Inquisition was its logical extension. It was only once the secular authorities of the Languedoc were willing to aid the church, or at least not actively hinder it, that the work of extirpating the heresy could begin. The terrible deaths of the Cathars of Minèrve, Lavaur, and Montségur were spectacular demonstrations of the fear and hatred that the heretics incited in the orthodox northerners, but they had little impact on the organization or the strength of the Cathars, who were initially fortified by persecution. It was the steady work of the Inquisition, rounding up and questioning thousands of men and women, that broke the organization. In the towns and to a lesser extent the countryside, the church gained a grip over the lives of the laity that it had never had in the twelfth century. What drove it to this gigantic task was a deep-rooted fear of the consequences for the church as an institution if it lost its monopoly of control over religious belief and activity. For many laymen there was probably a similar, though hardly articulated, feeling that the roots of society were in danger if unorthodox opinions were unchecked. The consequences of the crusade and Inquisition for the church were considerable. As one of the measures taken against the heretics, possession of the Bible (even in Latin) was forbidden to the laity, as were all translations into Occitan. Only a breviary, a psalter, and a book of hours were allowed. Thus the church placed a real barrier between itself and the laity just as increasing wealth and literacy among the laity made it possible for more people to take an intelligent interest in the faith. Doctrinal and theological debate became something restricted only to the most trusted scholars. The church learned slowly that its relationship with the secular powers had changed. It had proved itself unable to defeat the heretics without the support of the kings of France and the power they wielded. From now on the king would be the leading partner in their relationship.