In the course of the twelfth century the “heresy” of the catharsa term derived from a Greek word meaning cigars. And, although she was marked in the history orthodox as a heresyit was rather an original and peaceful cultural movement.
Expulsion of the Cathars
It is very difficult, given the fragmentary and very partial nature of the documentation we have (we are aware of the doctrine cathar especially through the refutations and reflections of his enemies) to specify the origins of this movement and the stages of its diffusion.
The groups cathars It seems that they were born in the West, from the preaching of the bogomilsa very numerous dualistic religious group in the Balkans in the 10th and 11th centuries.
The name of “bulgarians» with which the cathars everywhere seems to be proof of that. Some survivors of Manichaeism in the western parts of the Church, they facilitated the success of eastern preachers.
The cathars they created followers in places where the religious climate was already disturbed: in the north of France (Burgundy, Campaign, Flanders). Also in the countries of the Rhine and, in greater numbers in northern Italy, along the commercial routes that linked these regions with the Byzantine East, where they picked up the heritage of the ancient movement of the palatines.
But the south of Francewhere they were called Albigenseswas the place of his dominion.
Some images of the region where the Cathars lived
Your success in France is primarily attributable to the unpopularity and low dignity of a large part of the clergy of the Languedoc. The laity had little respect for their priests, and the knights clearly consecrated their sons to the clergy.
On the other hand, an atmosphere of political and social tolerance favored the progress of culture cathar. For example, when asked by the bishop to a gentleman why he did not expel from his land the hereticshe replied:
«We cannot do it because we have grown up among them; we have relatives among them and we see them live honorably”
Cathar beliefs
Now, what was the doctrine professed by the Albigenses? Like the Manichaeansbelieved in the existence of principles: that of good and evil, always in constant struggle.
Being the underworld Direct work of the spirit of evil, the Cathars preached the contempt of everything that was material. So that the soul could free itself from the world, they recommended the practice of asceticism and in particular the avoidance of marriage, which perpetuates the flesh.
In the name of this principle they condemned the ChurchThey denied any value to their cries and their sacraments, and rejected some of their norms, such as the incarnation and the divinity of Jesus Christ. It was impossible, according to them, that the god of good could have incarnated.
Ruins of Montségur, one of the last Cathar castles to resist the invasion of France
The cathars they had organized a true Church of their own, with its rites, its bishops, and its assemblies. In 1167, a great council met cathar of an ecumenical nature in Saint-Félix-de-Caraman, near Toulouse.
The communities cathars They comprised two categories of worshipers. Those most committed to detachment from earthly things formed the group of the perfect.
The perfect were, in effect, those who had received a kind of spiritual baptism, called the consolamentum. This rite was done by laying on of hands and forced the person who had received it to practice rigorous asceticism.
On the other hand, simple believers they were the most numerous. These believers expected to receive at the moment of death the consolamentumwhich was, ultimately, a kind of extreme unction.
The extermination of the Cathars
In France, the rise of these beliefs were enormous. At the end of the twelfth century, the cathars they were so numerous there that they did not even have to hide. Like other similar movements, the catharism it had taken root above all in the cities, where the bourgeoisie and the popular classes adhered en masse to the new doctrine.
But there were also nobles among the catharssuch as the Count of Foix, the Count of Béziers, and Raymond VI, the Count of Toulouse.
The Pope Innocent IIIas soon as he ascended to the pontifical throne, in 1198, he decided to undertake the conversion of the hereticsbut the missionaries sent to preach did not have the devastating success they sought.
In addition, the formation of a true culture, and the political and economic development of a powerful feudal region, threatened for some with French unity.
Crusade against the Cathars (credit: www.satrapa1.com)
Trying to benefit from the material and spiritual advantages that were recognized to the crusaderspetty lords and adventurers from the north, including Simon de Montfortleft for the Languedoc in a crusade against the Albigenses which soon turned into a war between the north of France and the southern regions.
The southern counties were plundered, and their populations slaughtered by this “crusade” which had the blessing of the Pope. After fierce resistance, the Languedoc he had to submit to royal and papal authority in 1226.
Later, the Inquisition swept away all the remnants of catharism that he could find.