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the Knights Templar, the Crusades & the Holy Grail (Original Version)

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Raven
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« Reply #165 on: January 06, 2008, 01:28:57 am »

Jason

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Thank you, Sarah & Danielle.

Incredulous, I would love to make the pilgrimage to Alexandria, Scotland, Rosslyn Chapel as well as, of course, the Holy Land.

Unfortunately, being in college also means having limited money at the moment.

Have you ever been there, and, if so, any hints as to what I might find?
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« Reply #166 on: January 06, 2008, 01:29:46 am »

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The Legend of The Cathars

HIGH ON A SACRED MOUNTAIN in Southern France, the whitened ruins of Montsegur are a reminder of the last actively visible gnostic school in the West, the Cathari. Below Montsegur lies a peaceful meadow, its name,"Field of the Burned", the only indication of the grim event that took place there a little over 700 years ago. In March, 1244, 205 Cathars were burned alive on the site, rather than renounce their creed.

Who were these heirs to Montsegur? Their name Cathari, means "pure" in Greek. Branded heretics by the Roman Catholic Church, little remains to speak of them today, other than Inquisition records. Their writings were destroyed along with their earthly bodies. Yet, in their time their influence was enormous, networking with centers in Italy, Bosnia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Switzerland and Germany. There is evidence as well of a deep connection with Moslem Sufi communities in Spain and the Middle East and with Jewish Kabbalist scholars living in surrounding cities. The Grail legends, the Courts of Love, the troubadours, all blossomed under the benign guidance of the gnostic Cathari. The spirit of the land, then known as Oc, was that of tolerance and personal liberty, most rare in any age.

Much of their faith rested upon a form of Manichaeism brought to Gaul in the 8th century by missionaries from Bulgaria, Croatia and Bosnia. The close affinity of Druidic teachings, the rallying of the poor to resist Church and secular tyranny, and the appeal of an elite strata of the faith to the aristocracy, made rich soil for the teachings to take root. Cathar doctrines, prosleytized largely by readings of the Gospel according to John, provided a highly workable alternative to the confusion and misery that existed.

Central to the Cathar creed is the concept of Duality, the opposition of the material world to that of the spirit. For the masses, this translated into a battle between good (Light or God) and evil (Darkness or Satan). However, if we return to the source of one of the many strands of which the Cathar faith is woven, we see in early Zoroastrianism, the root of Manichaeism, a less encrusted form of dualism. According to Zoroaster, the Supreme Being created twin forces of reality and unreality. Reality and unreality are seen as essential elements from which our world is created, not polarizations of good and evil. Reality is represented by objective meaning. Unreality is human subjectivity, which only becomes negative when we are enmeshed and blinded by it.

Man, according to the Cathar creed, has three natures: the body, which is the abode of the soul; the soul, which is the abode of the spirit; and the spirit, the divine spark.

Through a life dedicated to ever increasing purity, the composite nature of man can undergo a double death and transfiguration, so that the formed spirit, born of the spark and nourished in the soul, will eventually separate, returning to the Light. The rigorously ascetic discipline necessary to achieve this state was available to the "Parfaits" (or "perfects"), master adepts, and a lower grade of adepts. The masses, or "believers" as they were called, were allowed to live fully in the ways of the householder, and understood that they were enmeshed in cycles of reincarnation to be reborn on Earth.

The outer appearance and practices of the Parfaits were simple. They worshipped in forests and on mountain tops, utilizing the strong tellurgic currents of the region. Their initiations were held in a series of limestone caves, chiefly near the Pic de St. Barthalemy. Renouncing worldly riches, they wore plain dark blue gowns, ate vegetarian foods, and kept strict vows of chastity in keeping with their belief that it was sacrilegious to procreate. They held to the tenet that Christ was cosmic, (and so could not have been crucified), suicide was sacred, and that the role of woman was equal to that of man, with the only stipulation being that a woman could not preach. Marriage, baptism, and communion were not recognized as valid rituals.

What set the Cathari apart from other gnostic sects was the ritual of the The Consolamentum.This ceremony consisted of the Parfait laying his hands upon the head of the literally dying or upon the head of the believer who aspired to enter the community of the Parfaits. A transmission of immense vivifying energy was said to take place, inspiring to those who witnessed it. The ritual of the The Consolamentum may have strongly contributed to the rapid spread of Catharism. This energy transmission allowed the spirit to continue its ascent towards the Light in safety, to evolve, or if the recipient was on the threshold of death, to make the leap into the cosmos. To not fear death was a crowning achievement. This courage served the adepts well when they were ruthlessly hunted down. At Montsegur, at Minerve, in the dungeons of Carcasonne, it is told that the Parfaits went willingly to their fate, helping others at the same time achieve release without fear or pain.

The sacred caves of the Sabarthez cluster around the small resort town of Ussat-Les-Bains and are known as'doors to Catharism'. To reach Bethlehem, the most important of the Cave Churches of Ornolac, one must climb the steep Path of Initiation. The Cave of Bethlehem may well have been the spritual center of the Cathar world. For it was here that the 'Pure' candidate underwent an initiation ceremony that culminated in TheConsolamentum.


Four aspects of the Cave were utilized in the ceremony:

A square nich in the wall in which stood the veiled Holy Grail

A granite altar upon which The Gospel ofJohn lay.

A pentagram hewn into the wall.

Telluric currents eminating from the rockwalls and floor.

The crusade against the Cathars began in earnest in 1209. It was one thing for an obscure monk to take vows of poverty and chastity and quite another for a whole people to loosen their ties to the material world. The very foundations of the Roman Catholic Church and feudalism were rocked by Cathar teachings. Practicing what they preached with great humility, attacking the corruption of the Catholic clergy, and establishing prosperous, cooperative communities in the land of Oc brought forth the full wrath of the outraged Roman Catholic Church and Northern nobility.

When the first rumblings of persecution were heard in 1204, Montsegur was rebuilt and fortified with a garrison. Originally the ancient ruin was used by the Cathars as a meditation site. Now, according to legend, it served an additional function as a refuge for the sacred treasure of the Grail, the safekeeping of which was allegedly part of the function of the Cathari.

Attacks on the South of France were led by the fanatic, Simon de Montfort. Whole towns loyal to the Cathars were massacred in the most brutal fashion. To experience the wildness of the countryside is to understand the depths of De Montfort's obsession. Innumerable men must have been lost as he plunged armies into deep, craggy ravines and up forbidding mountainsides. De Montfort's first vicious attacks on Montsegur were successfully repulsed. Montsegur stood firm as a symbol of hope.

By 1215, the Council of Lateran established the dread Inquisition. During the next 50 years the toll of those killed by this infamous arm of the Roman Catholic Church climbed to one million, more than in all of the other crusades against heresies combined. Throughout these trials, Montsegur quietly defied the Church, standing as a bastion of faith.

The murder of two Dominican Inquisitors at Avignonet was the pretext for resuming attacks against the fortress-temple. The brave Cathari and their supporters resisted for six months,but through an act of treachery, the difficult mountain was scaled, and in March of 1244, Montsegur surrendered. Singing, 205 Cathars marched down the mountain and into the large bonfires awaiting them. A memorial solar cross silently testifies to their martyrdom.


Coins and sacred objects left behind by the Cathars were distributed to the conquerors, but according to Inquisition records, the real treasure vanished the night before the capitulation. Four Cathars and the Cathars' treasure were said to have been let down the steepest side of the mountain by ropes and disappeared.


Speculation still exists about the nature of the treasure - sacred books, the Grail Stone, or the Grail Cup? And where might it be hidden? In one of the many limestone caves that surround Montsegur? In an abandoned, water-logged mine deep in the Ariage? Mute witness to all, the ruin of Montsegur does not reveal these secrets. Patiently it waits in the brilliant sun for the last sign of the Cathars, the greening of the laurel.

http://gnosistraditions.faithweb.com/mont.html
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« Reply #167 on: January 06, 2008, 01:30:30 am »

Catharism was a religious movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary Roman Catholic Church as heretical. It existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its home was in Languedoc and surrounding areas in southern France.

The name Cathar most likely originated from Greek καθαροί, "pure ones". One of the first recorded uses is Eckbert von Schönau, who wrote on heretics from Cologne in 1181: "Hos nostra germania catharos appellat."

The Cathars were also sometimes labelled Albigensians. This name originates from the end of the 12th century, and was used by the chronicler Geoffroy du Breuil of Vigeois in 1181. The name refers to the southern town of Albi (the ancient Albiga). The designation is hardly exact, for the centre was at Toulouse and in the neighbouring districts.

Origins
The beliefs came originally from Eastern Europe by way of trade routes. The name of Bulgarians (Bougres) was also applied to the Albigenses, and they maintained an association with the Bogomils of Thrace. Their doctrines have numerous resemblances to those of the Bogomils (and Paulicians). It is difficult to form any precise idea of the Cathar doctrines, as all the existing knowledge of them is derived from their opponents, and the few texts from the Cathars (the Rituel Cathare de Lyon and the Nouveau Testament en Provencal) contain very little information concerning their beliefs and moral practices. What is certain is that they formed an anti-sacerdotal party in opposition to the Catholic Church, and raised a continued protest against perceived corruption of the clergy. The Cathar theologians, called Cathari or perfecti by their Catholic executioners and judges, were known to themselves, their followers and even their co-citizens as "bons hommes" or "bons chrétiens", literally "good men" or "good christians", were few in number; the mass of believers (credentes) were not initiated into the doctrine at all—they were allegedly freed from all moral prohibition and all religious obligation, on condition that they promised by an act called convenenza to become "hereticized" by receiving the consolamentum, the baptism of the Spirit, before their death.

The first French Cathars appeared in Limousin between 1012 and 1020. Several were discovered and put to death at Toulouse in 1022. The synods of Charroux (Vienne) (1028) and Toulouse (1056) condemned the growing sect. Preachers were summoned to the districts of the Agenais and the Toulousain to combat the Cathar doctrine in the 1100s. The Cathars, however, gained ground in the south thanks to the protection given by William, Duke of Aquitaine, and a significant proportion of the southern nobility. The people were impressed
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« Reply #168 on: January 06, 2008, 01:30:58 am »

 
Danielle Gorree

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Suppression

In 1147, Pope Eugene III sent a legate to the affected district in order to arrest the progress of the Cathars. The few isolated successes of Bernard of Clairvaux could not obscure the poor results of this mission, and clearly shows the power of the sect in the south of France at that period. The missions of Cardinal Peter (of St. Chrysogonus) to Toulouse and the Toulousain in 1178, and of Henry, cardinal-bishop of Albano, in 1180–1181, obtained merely momentary successes. Henry of Albano's armed expedition, where he took the stronghold at Lavaur, did not extinguish the movement.

The persistent decisions of the councils against the Cathars at this period — in particular, those of the Council of Tours (1163) and of the Third Council of the Lateran (1179) — had scarcely more effect. By the time Pope Innocent III came to power in 1198, he had resolved to suppress the Cathari.

St Dominic encountered them while travelling, and tried to combat the strange doctrines. He had concluded that only the best of preachers could win over people who had fallen in with the Cathari sect. This lead to the establishment on the Dominican Order in 1216. The order was to live up to the terms of his famous rebuke, "Zeal must be met by zeal, humility by humility, false sanctity by real sanctity, preaching falsehood by preaching truth."

At first Pope Innocent III tried pacific conversion, and sent a number of legates into the affected regions. They had to contend not only with the Cathars, the nobles who protected them, and the people who venerated them, but also with the bishops of the district, who rejected the extraordinary authority which the Pope had conferred upon his legates. In 1204, Innocent III suspended the authority of the bishops in the south of France. Papal legate Peter of Castelnau, known for excommunicating the noblemen who protected the Cathars, excommunicated the Count of Toulouse as an abettor of heresy in 1207. Peter was then murdered near Saint Gilles Abbey in 1208 on his way back to Rome, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, "probably at the connivance of Raymond VI, count of Toulouse". As soon as he heard of the murder, the Pope ordered his legates to preach the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars.

This war threw the whole of the nobility of the north of France against that of the south, possibly instigated by a papal decree stating that all land owned by Cathars could be confiscated at will. As the area was full of Cathar sympathisers, this made the entire area a target for northern nobles looking to gain new lands. It is thus hardly surprising that the barons of the north flocked south to do battle for the Church.

In one famous incident in 1209, most of Béziers were slaughtered by the Catholic forces headed by the Papal legate. Arnaud-Amaury, the Abbot of Citeaux, was asked how to distinguish between the Catholic and Cathars, and allegedly answered, "Kill them all, God will know his own". The Catholic Encyclopedia denies these words were ever spoken.

The war also involved Peter II, the king of Aragon, who owned fiefdoms and had vassals in the area. Peter died fighting against the crusade on September 12, 1213 at the Battle of Muret.

The war ended in the Treaty of Paris (1229), by which the king of France dispossessed the house of Toulouse of the greater part of its fiefs, and that of Béziers of the whole of its fiefs. The independence of the princes of the south was at an end. But in spite of the wholesale massacre of Cathars during the war, Catharism was not extinguished.

In 1215, the bishops of the Catholic Church met at the Fourth Council of the Lateran under Pope Innocent. One of the key goals of the council was to combat heresy.

The Inquisition was established in 1229 to root out the Cathars. Operating in the south at Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne and other towns during the whole of the 13th century, and a great part of the 14th century, it succeeded in extirpating the movement. From May 1243 to March 1244, the Cathar citadel of Montségur was besieged by the troops of the seneschal of Carcassonne and the archbishop of Narbonne. On March 16, 1244 a large and symbolically important execution took place, where leaders of Catharism together with more than 200 Cathar laity were thrown into an enormous fire at the prat des cramats near the foot of the castle. Moreover, the church decreed severe chastisement against all laymen suspected of sympathy with Cathars (Council of Narbonne, 1235; Bull Ad extirpanda, 1252).

Hunted down by the Inquisition and abandoned by the nobles of the district, the Albigenses became more and more scattered, hiding in the forests and mountains, and only meeting surreptitiously. The people made some attempts to overthrow the Inquisition and the French, and insurrections broke out under the leadership of Bernard of Foix, Aimerv of Narbonne and Bernard Délicieux at the beginning of the 14th century. But at this point vast inquests were set on foot by the Inquisition, which increased its efforts in the district. Precise indications of these are found in the registers of the Inquisitors, Bernard of Caux, Jean de St Pierre, Geoffroy d'Ablis, and others. The sect was exhausted and could find no more adepts, and after 1330 the records of the Inquisition contain few proceedings against Cathars. The last Cathar Perfect, Guillaume Bélibaste, was executed in 1321. Other movements, such as the Waldensians and the pantheistic Brethren of the Free Spirit survived into the 14th and 15th century, until they were gradually replaced by, or absorbed into, early Protestant sects, such as the Hussites.
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« Reply #169 on: January 06, 2008, 01:31:29 am »

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Influences

Christian Rosencreuz, according to some, may have been associated with an underground Cathar movement that hid from the Inquisition. However, this is highly unlikely because there is absolutely no evidence that the Cathar movement still existed by Rosencreuz' time, nor is there any concrete evidence that Rosencreuz existed at all.

The Holy Grail

It has been suggested in some modern fiction and non-fiction books that the Cathars could have been the protectors of the Holy Grail of Christian mythology, especially in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, although modern investigation into this book has largely discredited its findings.

Visigoths

Visigoths had settled in the region described as central to Catharism, which separated the political ideology from the Frankish northern provinces or Burgundy. The Crusade to rid Christendom of Cathars was a synonym for eradicating the last remnants of Arianism. The disparity between religious practices had not only been between the Visigoths of Toulouse and Franks of Paris, because Burgundy's Geneva would later erupt in Calvinism with opposition by the Franks at that time as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathar
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« Reply #170 on: January 06, 2008, 01:32:10 am »

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CATHARISM

From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries a religious sect called 'Cathars' spread to parts of Europe. The word 'Cathar' is derived from the Greek 'Katharos' (meaning 'pure'). The German word 'Ketter' (meaning 'heretic') was obviously influenced from the Cathars in southern medieval Europe, as the sect was so perceived by the official Roman Catholic Church at the time. The Cathar sect held an austre belief that renounced worldly pleasures, seeing such as destructive temptations provided by an evil deity (the Devil). It believed that a second, good deity (God) created parfaits ('pure souls') that were being corrupted by the material and the pleasures of the natural world they found themselves in. Those of the Cathars who were recognized as parfaits made up the elite, and relatively small leadrship of the sect, that practiced extreme asceticism and did not marry. The parfaits held strong sway over the the much larger following refered to as croyants ('believers'), who were permited to have families. However, even these were expected, before they died, to undergo a consolamentum, a form of 'baptism' that transformed a soul back to its pure state. Though they thought of themselves as Christians, the Cathars were very opposed to the authority, teachings and clergy of the Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox churches.


The Cathars were particularly strong in southern France, in the region known as Languedoc, where the language of oc was spoken as opposed to the French language used in northern France. The northern French called the Cathars 'Albigensians' because of the strong representation of the belief's adherents in the town of Albi.

POLITICAL STRUCTURE of LANGUEDOC

Languedoc is the name of an historic region in the central southern part of what is modern France. It has no unity other than a shared spoken language called langue d'oc. The language of oc was a corruption of Latin mixed with words of various invaders that passed through. The language in this central southern area of France was closer to the older Latin than the French language spoken in northern France (langue d'oil -- especially north of the Loire), which was tinged with some Germanic influences.


Political boundaries in early medieval Languedoc were mostly defined by association with nearby strong fortresses, which might be a walled town or merely a castle. The feudal system was weaker than in northern France, and the local lords maintained considerable independence. Many towns were controled by councils. Contributing to fragmented political unity in the region were the incursions of the comtes de Barcelona. This powerful ruling house in Catalonia had been acquiring fiefs to the north of the Pyrenees from the early twelfth century. There were other 'foreign' pressures upon Languedoc. To the west was Aquitaine, its duke was technically a vassal to the king of France, but he was also the king of England. To the east, some territories in Provence were considered properities of the Catholic pope as well as of the Emperor of the Germans.

The most prominant counties in Languedoc were Toulouse, Foix, and Comminges. Of equal prominance were the vicounties of Trencavel. The comte de Toulouse, Raymond IV, was also count of Provence (east of Languedoc). His domain encompassed an area of particular active trade and commerce. The wealthy lords of the counties and vicounties in this area lived well, and they allowed an atmosphere of relatively open mindedness and tolerence of beliefs. The Roman Catholic parishes were not as strong a community focal point as they were in many other parts of France. Jews and Cathars served in many of the courts of the comte de Toulouse and the vicomte de Trencavel, the latter was very open in his support of the Cathars.

http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/albigens.htm
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« Reply #171 on: January 06, 2008, 01:32:48 am »

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CRUSADE CALLED

Pope Innocent III (1198-1216) was concerned with the growing influence of Catharism, and saw that it threatened the authority of the Church. He saw the movement as a heresy that needed to be eliminated, as were Arianism and Manichaenism in earlier times. In 1204, Innocent III tasked Abbot Arnaud-Amaury [Arnold-Amalric], head of the Cistercian Order, to be a special legate to investigate Catharism in Languedoc. The papal legate used the cloister in the monstery of Fontfroide as his main outpost. Some regular clerics were also sent by the pope. One from Spain was Domingo de Guzmán, the future St. Dominic and founder of the Dominican Order. Domingo attempted to apply the Cathar's austere methods in his promotion of orthodox Christanity, and he had some success in converting a few Cathars. The progress was inadequate, and the Church decided to use force to either convert or to eliminate the declared heretic followers of Catharism.


The pope asked Philippe II Auguste, the French king (and a cousin to comte Raymond VI de Toulouse), to take action against high nobles in southern France who permitted Cathars to openly practice their faith. Philippe II did not comply, as he was facing a more direct threat from an alliance of the English king, Flemish nobles and the German Emperor. [See link to Bouvines War at the end of this webpage.]

In 1206, the pope's legate, Amaury, sent his assistant, another Cistercian monk, Pierre de Castelnau, to Provence to form a league of knights to fight Catharism. Castelnau invited comte Raymond VI of Toulouse to lead this host. Raymond saw no value in such a campaign against this community that was widely spread and well ingranied in his lands. He rejected the "idea of waging war on his own subjects," and Castelnau called for Raymond VI's excommunication. The pope ratified the excommunication of Raymond in May 1207. On 13 January 1208, Raymond met with Pierre de Castelnau at Saint-Gilles, in Provence. The monk and Raymond argued and exchanged threats.

The next morning (14 January), Pierre de Castelnau was assassinated as he was departing the town. His assassin was believed to have been an agent of comte Raymond VI. Pope Innocent III reacted by proclaiming a crusade against the 'sinister race' of Languedoc. His Bull offered indulgences for combatants declared that the heretics' lands were open to be taken. This latter offer enticed many knights from far who needed, or merely sought more land.

One such French knight was Simon IV de Montfort l'Amaury, (1165-1218), who was disinherited from his uncle's estates of Lecicester, in England, by king John I in 1207. Simon IV was a minor lord in the Chevreuse Valley (in the modern Seine-et-Oise region) of France. He had departed with in the Fourth Crusade in 1202, but refused to participate in the attack upon Constantinople instead of Jerusalem. The pope's offer of confiscated lands inspired Simon IV de Montfort to go south with many other northern French knights in the crusades against the Cathars.
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« Reply #172 on: January 06, 2008, 03:43:13 am »

Thanks for the help, Raven, I shall finish it up.
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« Reply #173 on: January 06, 2008, 03:44:27 am »

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EVENTS of the FIRST PHASE: SIMON IV de MONTFORT's CONQUEST

1209 June, an 'army' of crusaders gathered in Lyon. The number was probably between 10,000 and 20,000 [some accounts estimate over 100,000]. Besides Simon IV de Montfort, there were the duc de Bourgogne, the counts of Nevers and Saint-Pol, the Seneschal of Anjou, and numerous other noblemen. This host marched south, along the River Rhone towards Provence. They were joined by Arnaud-Amaury, the papal legate who had a titular leadership position as 'spiritual advisor' in the 'holy' campaign.

Meanwhile, comte Raymond de Toulouse recognized the serious situtation developing and sought to be reconciled with The Church. In June, he returned to Saint-Gilles, stood barefoot before Pierre de Castelnau's sepulcher, and pleged to expel Cathars from Toulouse. The pope lifted his excommunication, and Raymond VI tentatively joined the crusade. The crusaders marched to Montpellier, (which, should be noted, was a fief of the King of Aragón).

Raymond-Roger III de Trencavel (age 24/25 and nephew of Raymond VI de Toulouse) realized that the crusaders were heading for his lands. Though he was a Roman Catholic, Roger de Trencavel tolorated particularly strong Cathar concentrations in his viscounties of Carcassonne and Albi. He met with the religious 'commander' of the crusade, Arnaud-Amaury, at Montpellier, to 'surrender to the Church'. However, Amaury refused to receive Roger de Trencavel. Knowing that his lands were to be attacked, Raymond-Roger deTrencavel quickly returned to Carcssonne to organize his defenses.
Servian
Early July 1209, Simon de Montfort captured the hilltop village of Servian, to the east of Béziers, prior to going to Béziers.

Béziers
On 21 July, the crusaders reached Béziers and demanded that the Cathars in the popularion be handed over. This was refused even by the Roman Catholics of the town. The tradition of Cathar strength in this town went back to 1167, when they murdered their vicomte, Raymond-Roger I de Trencavel, in revenge for one of his knights having killed a Cathar. In return the vicomte's son, Raymond-Roger II, had the town ransacked in 1169. Domingo de Guzmán and Pierre de Castelnau had attempted to confront the popularion in 1206.


On the afternoon of 22 July, the town launched a sortie which, when forced back into the town, was closely persued by a band of the crusaders. Once inside the walls of the town, the crusaders seized Béziers within an hour. Immediately there began a mass slaughter of Catholics and Cathars, alike. When asked by one of the crusader warriors about the possible killing of Catholics along with the heretic Cathars, Arnaud-Amaury is supposed to have delivered his nefarious statement "Kill them all! God will recognize His own!" Accounts vary as to the numbered slaughtered (10,000 to 20,000, with just over 200 estimated to have been Cathars) in this, the bloodiest and first, battle of the crusade. The massacre frightened many other towns to surrender without resistance.

Present among the crusaders was a Cistercian monk, Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay, who ten years later would write his chronical Historia Albigensis of the campaign.
Puysserguier
In autum of 1209, Guiraud de Pépieux, lord of a small estate between Carcassonne and Minerve, rallied to the crusaders' camp after the fall of Béziers. Later, he revolted and captured Puysserguier castle and took prisoner two of the knights who guraded the fortress. By the time Montfort arrived with aid, Guiraud had departed with his captives for Minerve. Out of revenge, Guiraud mutulated his prisoners (blinding them and cutting off thier noses and upper lips) and sent them naked in the cold to Carcassonne.

Carcassonne
Carcassonne was the next objective of the crusaders. They arrived before the impressive fortifications on 1 August 1209. The town's population was bloated with many Cathars and others who had fled the northern French crusading host. This perceptively impregnable fortified city of 26 [30?] towers sat above the Aude River. Its vunerable point was that it relied on access to the river for its water supply.


Pedro II d'Aragón, a Catholic monarch, who had won considerable fame in fighting the Moors in Spain, was a protector of the Trencavels [and brother-in-law to Raymond VI de Toulouse], came to Carcassonne and tried to mediate. Arnaud-Amaury continued to refuse giving any quarter in the crusade, and Pedro II departed in anger. The siege proceded with the both sides employing trebuchet and mangonel rotating-beam artillery, along with other large siege machinery. However the most effective tactic was the crusaders' capture of two faubourgs outside the walls, the first on 7 August. This effectively cut off the Carassonne defenders' access to the river.

Thirst and spreading disease forced Roger de Trencavel to seek negotiations for surrender. While supposedly under 'safe-conduct', he was made prisoner. Carcassonne surrendered 15 August 1209. Raymond-Roger III de Trencavel died in one of the fortress dungeons on 10 November. Montfort's crusaders did not conduct a massacre, but forced the residents of Carcassonne to to depart the walled city, "taking nothing but their sins." Roger III de Trencavel's wife and young son (Raymond-Roger IV) took refuge with the comte de Foix, whose sister, Esclarmonde, was a Cathar.
Simon de Montfort sought suzerain status over Carcassonne, Albi, Béziers and the Razès area. The other senior French lords of the crusade were not interested in possessing such contentious lands. Most, like the comtes de Nevers and Saint-Pol returned to their northern domains by autum of 1209. The duc de Bourgogne remained through September at Carcassone with about 300 men. He tried and burned two Cathars in October 1209.


Towns such as Castelnaudary, Fanjeaux, Montréal, Limoux, Castres, Albi or Lombers surrendered without a real fight. Montfort pushed beyond the Trencavel vicomtes and attacked lands of the comte de Foix (Mirepoix, Foix and Saverdun). However, some the towns revolted against Montfort: Castres, Lombers, Montréal, etc. Cathari and 'faidits' (lords who dispossessed of their lands) took refuge in Minerve, Termes or Cabaret and launched counter attacks against what was left of Montfort's army.
In December 1209, de Montfort was recognized by Innocent III as a direct vassal of the Roman Pope.

Lastours-Cabaret
Late in the year, Simon and the duc de Bourgogne attacked Lastours, a city nine miles north of Carcassone, where Pierre-Roger de Cabaret (a vassal of the Trencavel's) harbored many fleeing Cathars. Lastours-Cabaret was a system of four 'castles' [Cabaret being the lord's residence, Lastours the main citadel stucture, the other two being simple towers] close enough to provide cover for one another. It was a formidable stronghold that permited Pierre-Roger de Cabaret to repulsed the attack. In a raid, de Cabaret took captive Montfort's lieutenant (and cousin) Bouchard de Marly, lord of Saissac.

1210 During winter, Arnaud-Amaury took over and was elected archbishop of comte Raymond VI's port city of Narbonne. The costal town became a major entry for crusaders' supplies and additional men. New venturers came from Anjou, Frisia, Lorraine, Bavaris, Gascony, Champagne, Brittany, Flanders, Normandy, Aquitaine, and numerous parts of Europe.
Bram
In March 1210, de Montfort captured Bram in a 3-day siege. He mutulated 100 of his captives and sent them to Pierre-Roger de Cabaret, at Lastours.

Minerve
In June 1210, the crusaders arrived before the impressively positioned (flanked by deep gorges) fortress of Minerve. They brought four siege machines (trebuchets and/or mangonels), which, along with their sizable stone shot, had to be positioned in the mountains surrounding the town. The fortress town was commanded by Guilhem de Minerve. Though he was not a Cathar, he felt compelled to support his lord de Trencavel. The intense bombardment managed to destroy the staircase to the otherwise secure water well. On 27 June, a number of the besieged population made a night sortie and set fire to the machine, which they named 'Malvoisine' and believed had destroyed their well. Thurst forced Minerve to surrender on 22 July. Arnaud-Amaury refused any negotiated terms. Three women of the town agreed to convert and were spared. Reportedly 140 Cathars who refused to abjure their faith died at the stake. This was the first burning at the stake in the crusade.

Termes
In early August, de Montfort began his siege of Termes, whose lord was a devoute Cathar. However, he was hampered by Pierre-Roger de Cabaret raiding his wagon rain. One attack seriously damaged the wooden siege engines. In another attack, Pierre-Roger decimated Montfort's rearguard and mutilated those captured as a response to what Montfort had done to his captives at Bram. The siege lasted until December, when the defenders ran out of water. The Cathar lord was placed in the Carcassonne dungeon, where he eventually died.

1211 Arnaud-Amaury remained relentless in his goal to eradicate the heretics. In January 1211, he accused several prominent citizens of Toulouse as heretics. When Raymond VI refused to prosecute them, he was again excommunicated by Arnaud-Amaury.

Pedro II d'Aragón was present when Arnaud-Amaury presented his ultimatum to Raymond VI, and expressed his resentment of the outragous demands and actions of the crusaders. Raymond VI was encouraged with the Aragón king's support and began to organize a coaltion of neighboring lords (comtes de Foix and de Comminges) who were threatened by the obvious land-grabing of Montfort.
Lastours-Cabaret
With the arrival of a new host of crusaders from northern France in March 1211, Montfort was able to significantly threaten Pierre-Roger de Cabarat's formidable Lastours-Cabaret defense complex. Pierre-Roger agreed to free Bouchard and surrendered his fortresses in exchange for some land in Béziers.

Lavaur
In May, de Montfort attacked and quickly seized Lavaur, the castle of Aimery de Montréal, a lord who had revolted against Montfort. Aimery and his knights were hung and about 300 to 400 Cathars burned. Aimery's sister, Giralda de Laurac, was reportedly turned over to be abused by Montfort's soldiers before being thrown in a well and stoned to death.


During Montfort's attack on Lavaur, the comtes de Foix and Comminges managed to attack a host from Germany that was coming to join the crusaders.
Cassès
This was quickly taken in early June, and about fifty Cathars were burnt.


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« Reply #174 on: January 06, 2008, 03:44:52 am »

 
Danielle Gorree

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Montferrand
This small fortress was surrendered by Raymond VI's brother, Beaudouin, who soon after joined the ranks of the crusaders as he turned over the castle, Bruniquel, to Montfort.

Toulouse
In June, Montfort, reinforced with a large contingent from Germany, led the crusaders to besiege Raymon VI's principal town, Toulouse. It was a fromidable walled city and had also been reinforced with warriors from Commings and Foix. Montfort fended of some sorties from the city, but eventually (29 June, after two weeks of siege) had to pull back to replenish his force.

Castelnaudary
In September, Raymond VI de Toulouse and Raymond-Roger de Foix led a sizable force [possibly about 10,000] to besieged Montfort at Castelnaudary. Montfort's forces had again begun to dwindle, as the varied venturers were not finding the crusade to be very rewarding. However, Montfort was served by a **** of warriors, and Raymond VI de Toulouse was not the ablest of commanders.


Raymond-Roger de Foix engaged a relief force, led by Bouchard de Marly, heading to Castelnaudary. The encouter was about three miles from the fortress and Montfort abandoned the defense of Castelnaudary to assist the relief party. His arrival managed to turn the tied of the battle and led to a defeat of Raymond-Roger's army. However, Montfort was not strong enough to try and prevent Raymond VI de Toulouse seizure of Castelnaudary. Raymond VI was able to go on and to captured about sixty fortresses or towns held by Montfort's crusaders.
Lastours-Cabarat
In autum of 1211, Raymond VI tried unsuccessfully to retake Cabaret.

1212 In April, de Montfort was reinforced with another crusading host, which he led in a series of lightening strikes throughout Toulouse.
1213 In September 1213, Pedro II d'Aragón led an army to Toulouse with, and joined forces with Raymond de Toulouse and the comtes de foix and Comminges. It was little over a year after Pedro II had shared the honors in the epic victory over the Almoravid sultan at Las Navas de Tolsa (16 July 1212) in Spain. Pedro II had long resented de Montfort's incursion upon some of his fiefs, and now felt compelled to act against de Montfort's aggression.
Muret
Pedro II besieged Muret, one the castles de Montfort now held. The comtes de Foix and Comminges joined him immediately. Raymond VI was enroute with a large siege train, when Montfort joined his besieged garrison on 11 September.


Pedro II launched an attack on 12 September. It was repelled, and quickly followed by a daring sortie by de Montfort that forced Pedro II's army to engage in a unexpected melée. Pedro II was killed in the action, and his army panicked. De Montfort won a descive victory.
1214 Pope Innocent III appointed a new legate to replace Arnaud-Amaury. The comtes de Foix and Comminges took the opportunity to submit to the new legate in April 1214. Raymond VI was helpless to put any more resistance. He fled to England as the pope proclaimed that Toulouse was proclaimed to be a fief of the king of France, Philippe II, who heretofor had been disinterested in the campaign.

Philippe II's interest changed following his great victories over the English king John I's attempted invasion into southwest France and then over the German Emperor, Otto IV, at the battle of Bouvines (27 July 1214) in northeastern France. This climatic event freed the French monarach to consider acquiring the regions to the south of his principal domain.
Campaign along the Dordogne
In November, 1214 Simon de Montfort advanced to the northern borders of Languedoc and into Périgord, taking some castles along the Dordogne River. The region was a stronghold of Bernard de Casnac, a bold Cathar military leader. Domme castle, a Cathar stronghold was abandoned before de Montfort arrived. Next was Montfort [no relation to Simon de Montfort] castle, which also had been abandoned before de Monftort approached.

Castelnaud and Beynac
Montfort continued along the Dordogne to the impressive fortified castles of Castlenaud and Beynac, each on opposite sides of the river only a short distance apart. De Montfort found Castlenaud empty and placed a garrison in it, as he proceded to Beynac. Beynac was not owned by Bernard de Casnac, nor was it a Cathar position. De Montfort attempted to demolish the fortifications, but did not harm the people, who were under the protection of the king of France. The Dordogne operations marked the northern limits of the Albigensian wars.

1215 King Philippe II sent his son, prince Louis [future Louis VIII] to accompany de Montfort when the latter entered Toulouse in May 1215.
In autum, at the Fourth Lateran Council, the pope confirmedde Montfort's right to Toulouse. Raymond VII's rights to Provence were not affected, which meant that it remained an inheritence reserved to Raymon VI's eldest son, eighteen-year-old Raymond VII. However, the ten-year-old Raymond Trencaval, son of the deceased Raymond-Roger de Trencaval was disinherited the vicounty Trencaval lands.

Castelnaud
Early in the year, Bernard de Cazenac seized back Castelnaud and killed the garrison de Montfort had left. In October, de Montfort conducted a swift expedition back into Périgord, recapturing the castles and killing all the Cathar defenders. Bernard de Cazenac managed to avoid capture and continued to engage de Montfort.

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« Reply #175 on: January 06, 2008, 03:45:19 am »

 
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EVENTS of the SECOND PHASE: LANGUEDOC REVOLTS (1215-1225)

1216 In April 1216, de Montfort paid homage to Philippe at Paris for his lands, ceding his conquests to the French sovereign. However, resentment rose in the Languedoc region, which welcomed the return of Raymond VI and his 19 year old son, Raymond VII, at the port of Marseilles in April 1216. Many towns rallied to their side. Particularly Avignon, which was within the domain of the comte de Provence and a dependent of the German Emperor. Avignon contributed troops for the capture of Beaucaire, Raymond VII's birthplace in 1197.
Beaucaire
De Montfort had installed some troops under Lambert de Thury, at Beaucaire, even though the it was in Provence, and outside his rightfull lands. Raymond VII besieged the French garrison at Beaucaire in May 1216. His father, Raymond VI, sought reinforcements from Aragon. Simon IV de Montfort rushed to relieve the town. The French crusader garrison held for three months before they ran out of food. After failing in many costly attacks, de Montfort was forced to negotiate the surrender of the castle on conditions that the defenders could leave. It was de Montfort's first major defeat.


Immediately after this reverse, de Montfort rushed to put down another revolt at his capital city of Toulouse. Following this, he went to fight in Bigorre, and met another defeat at Lourdes, at the end of 1216. Lourdes, in the Hautes-Pyrenees, marked the western limit of the Albigensian crusade that pertained directly with the Cathars.
1217 De Montfort proceded to campaign in the county of Foix. He captured Montgrenier in Feb/March 1217. His campaign reached in to the Corbières area, and as far as the Drôme Valley. Meanwhile, Raymond VII took advantage of Montfort's absence and led a large Aragonese host crossed the Pyrenees and entered Toulouse on 13 September 1217. De Montfort returned and attempted a siege. However, his forces were inadequate and he needed to build a siege train for the town's defense structure remained strong, even though de Montfort had directed it be brought down when he controlled it and had to contend with revolts inside the city.
1218 Toulouse
Starting in spring, de Montfort prepared his siege of Toulouse. In June he brought in a cat, a mobile cover to protect sappers as they approached the wall of the fortress. On 25 June, the defenders disabled the device with their mechanical artillery (rotating-beam trebuchet and/or mangonels firing from within the fortress-city walls) and then sortied out to burn it. De Montfort led a counter attack against the defenders' sortie. During this encounter, Simon de Montfort paused to aid his brother, Guy, who was wounded by crossbow bolt. At that moment, a stone from the defenders' artillery struck Simon de Montfort's head and killed him. The shot was fired by a rotating-beam artillery machine, and reportedly was crewed by women.

The circumstances of de Montfort's death emphasizes the significant role of mechanical artillery in the siege-intensive military operations of these crusades. An explanatory note on the topic can be found at the end of this webpage.
The death of Simon IV de Montfort dramatically changed the nature of the 'crusade'. There was no high noble ready or available to take his place as leader. By default, it remained for the king of France to continue the struggle, which now was not so much to seek and to destroy heretics as to fight for possession of the county of Toulouse.


Raymond VII de Toulouse and the comte de Foix took advantage of the disarray among the crusaders. They defeated an army of northern French knights at Baziège. The new pope, Honorius III (since the death of Innocent III, July 1216) asked the king of France to assist Simon's 26 year-old son and heir, Amaury de Montfort. Philippe II Auguste sent Prince Louis, for a second time. However, Louis' expedition was very circumspect, as his father waited for the confusion in Lauguedoc to settle down.
Belcaire
Belcaire, a refuge for Cathars, was besieged in 1218.

1219 In early 1219, Raymond VII and the comte de Foix defeated a band of crusaders in one of the few open battles of the war, at Baziège.
Marmande
In June, Prince Louis joined with Amaury de Montfort's force, which had been besieging Marmande since December 1218. The town surrendered, and the entire inhabitants [possibly 5,000] were 'massacre' on 3 June 1219.

Louis joined the crusaders to besiege Toulouse on 16 June. However, the prince suddenly withdrew, and returned to northern France in August 1219. Amaury de Montfort continued to suffer a series of defeats, as many of de Montfort's garrisons quickly surrendered to Raymond VII.

1220 Castelnaudary-2
Raymond VII captured Castelnaudary. During the attack, Guy de Montfort (Simon's second son and Amaury's younger brother) was killed. Amaury de Montfort was never able to recaptured the town during an eight-month of siege (July 1220-March 1221).

1221 Montréal
In February, Raymond IV and Roger-Bernard de Foix recaptured Montréal. During the attack, the local lord, Alain de Rouey, who had killed Pedro II of Aragón at the battle of Muret, was mortally wounded.


Montréal was supposed to be where the 'miracle of Fanjeaux' occured (1207). In an 'ordeal by fire', a Cathar parchment was burnt and St Dominic's parchmant flew up to the rafters and schoched the roof. Fanjeaux is a nearby town where St. Dominic (d.1221), was a priest for a short time. It became a crusader's headquarters, and was attacked and burnt by the comte de Foix.
As Raymond VII and his vassals gradually recaptured their lands, Catharism resurfaced, and many Catholic bishops to fled.

1222 Both Amaury de Montfort and Raymond VII offered sovereignty of the county of Toulouse to Philippe II Auguste, who refused it.
Raymond VI died in July 1222 and was denied a Christian burial by the Church. His son, Raymond VII, who had been the realy dynamic force in the recent campaigns, became the comte de Provence and the disputed land of Toulouse.

Alet
Alet was handed over to comte de Foix by Father Boston.

1223 Roger-Bernard de Foix and Philippe II Auguste of France died. Philippe II's son, Louis VIII initially remained remote from any strong support of Amaury de Montfort.
1224 Carassonne
In January, Amaury de Montfort abandoned Carassonne and retreated to northern France with the remains of his father, Simon IV. He offered the 'conquered lands' to the new French monarch, Louis VIII.
The 18 years old son the of the vicomte Raymond-Roger III de Trencaval (who had died in the Carcassonne dungeon in 1209) returned from exile, and entered his father's former capital city as Raymond-Roger IV de Trencaval. After fourteen years of massacres and people being burnt at the stake, the situation was almost back to where it was 1209. At this point, the crusade had failed. Appropriately for the year 1224, Arnaud-Amaury died, not suprisingly a bitter and disillusioned individual.

Unlike his father (Philippe II), King Louis VIII was ready to expand the Royal domain with the bounty from the Albigensian affair. He accepted the offer of Amaury de Montfort. However, pope Honorius III (who was not eager to have a stronger presence of the French in Languedoc) had to be persuaded by the bishops in southern France to continue supporting a crusade.





RETURN To DIRECTORY



EVENTS of the THIRD PHASE: CONQUESTS of LOUIS VIII, BLANCHE de CASTILLE, and LOUIS IX (1225-1229)

1225 Raymond VII de Toulouse was excommunicated when he attended the Council of Bourges (November-December of 1225).
1226 In late June, Louis VIII personally led a new crusade into Languedoc. Most of the castles and towns surrendered without resistance. Raymond VII, Roger-Bernard de Foix, Raymond Trencaval and a number of 'faidits' were alone in resisting the Royal campaign.
Avignon
As a fief of the German Emperor, Avignon, refused to open its gates to the king of France when he came before it on 6 June. After a siege of three months, the city capitulated 12 September 1226. As most all Languedoc submitted, Toulouse prepared to resist alone.

Carcassonne
On 16 June, Carcassonne surrendered to Louis VIII.

Louis VIII became ill, and died in Auvergne on 8 November 1226 as he was returning to northern France. He left his seneschal, Humbert de Beaujeu, to continue the crusade. Blanche de Castille, the regent for her son Louis IX, confirmed Beaujeu's position. Humbert de Beaujeu conducted the crusade until Louis IX was old enough to take over.

1227 Labécède
Labécède was besieged by Humbert de Beaujeu and the bishops of Narbonne and Toulouse. Pounded by siege machines and set afire, the entire town was reportedly massacred.
1228 Guy de Montfort, brother of Simon de Montfort and uncle to Amaury, had returned to Languedoc to defend what was left to the Montfort's claims. He was killed besieging Vareilles in January 1228.
Toulouse was starved in the summer. Bernard and Oliver de Termes surrounded in November 1228.

Blanche de Castile decided to negotiate. She agreed to recognize Raymond VII as the legitimate owner of the county of Toulouse (and vassel of France) if he married his only daughter, Jeanne (then 9 years old), to her son, Alphonse of Poitiers (also 9 years old and brother to the young Louis IX).

1229 In the 'Treaty of Paris', Raymond VII agreed to Blanche's terms on 12 April 1229 at a meeting in Meaux. [The treaty is sometimes given the name of this town.] Raymond VII agreed to fight the Cathar 'heresy', to return all Church properity, to demolish the defenses of Toulouse, and to turn over all his castles, as well as pay damages. Raymond VII was flagelated and humulated on a parvis in front of Notre-Dame, and then imprisoned. His wife was expelled from Toulouse. This marked the end of independence in Languedoc.
More frightening was the establishment of the Inquisition at Toulouse in November 1229. The treaty ended the political part of the crusade, but the religious struggle and the campaign for the Cathar fortresses continued.

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« Reply #176 on: January 06, 2008, 03:45:48 am »

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EVENTS of the FINAL PHASE: INQUISITION and the CATHAR's LAST GASPS

1233 Pope Gregory IX supported the Dominican-run Inquisition, allowing it limitless powers to torture and burn heretics at the stake. The institution was established in Languedoc in April 1233. Cathati were ruthlessly sought out. As expected, many resisted and took refuge in castles of viscouny of Fenouillèdes or in Montségur. Sick, eldery, and even exhumed bodies were burned. The Inquisition's gruesome excesses incited revolts that continued for many years in Narbonne, Cordes, Carcassonne, Albi, and Toulouse.
1235 Popular uprisings against the Inquisition occured in many areas of Languedoc in 1235. The Dominicans were expelled from Toulouse. An inquisitor was thrown into the river Tarn at Albi. At Cordes, the inquisitors were thrown down a 100 foot well to their deaths. By autumn, the inquisitors had been run out of Toulouse, Albi, and Narbonne.
1240 Raymond-Roger IV de Trencavel led a final revolt. He raised an army and traveled from the Cobières region to win a few victories. He was defeated at Carcassonne on October 1240. Forced to begin negotiations in Montréal [after 34 days of siege], he retired to Aragón with the remnant of his army. The French army, under Jehan de Beaumont, entered the Fenouillèdes. Peyrepertuse, the largest of the Cathar fortresses, surrendered to Beaumont 16 November 1240 after a three-day siege.
1242 Raymond VII de Toulouse tried to clear himself of the insult he had suffered in Meaux. He obtained support from the kings of Castile, Aragón, Navarre, and England. He led an insurrection in May 1242. A small force set out from Montségur to attack and massacre several members of the Inquisition in Avignonet (28 May). Raymond's campaign attempted to take advanage of an invasion by the English king, Henry III, into southwestern France. [See link to webpage on Saintonge War of 1242 at bottom of this webpage.]

Louis IX swiftly defeated the English king Henry III at Saints and at Taillebourg in July 1242. Raymond VII's allies fell away as they saw the French king prepare for a massive campaign into Languedoc.
1243 Again, Raymond VII was compelled to submit to the French king in January 1243. The ceremony took place near Montargis. Though Louis IX pardoned Raymond VII, the Roman Catholic Church did not. Remembering the killings at Avignonet, Raymond VII remained excommunicated.
Montségur
The crusade to wipe out Catharism continued, and the followers were driven to the security of a few strong fortresses. One was Montségur, sitting 400 feet above the surrounding plain [current sturcture is a reconstruction, built upon the original site]. It had a barbican on a lower plateau to the west . The lord of Montségur and his son-in-law, Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix, held strong Cathar sympathies. They were supported by eleven knights and about 150 soldiers. Including the warriors' families, the fortress contained about 500 people.


In early May, Hugues des Arcis arrived at Montségur with 1,500 men, expecting to starve the defenders out. In November, Hugues des Arcis sent some lightly armed men to scale the precipitous eastern slope. In a daring night ascent, they acquired a foothold and began hoisting up siege machines. They finally began shooting [lobbing] stones upon the barbican to the fortress.
1244 In February 1244, Hugues des Arcis captured the barbican to Montségur. The defenders surrendered at the end of month. The fortress, called by non-Cathars 'Satan's synagogue', was emptied on 16 March, and 210 Cathars were burned in a fire at the base of the mountain.
1249 Eventually, Raymond VII assisted the Inquisition in a further effort to clear his name. He cooperated in the burning of some people at the stake in Agen in 1249. Raymond VII de Toulouse died the same year, as he was preparing to join Louis IX on the Seventh crusade. Jeanne, his daughter, became comtess de Toulouse. When she and her husband (Alphonse de Poitiers) died childless in 1271, the county of Toulouse became part of the Royal domain of France.
1255 Quéribus
The final military action in the epic 45-years' crusade was a siege of the small Cathar fortress of Quéribus. It fell in August of 1255. This remote refuge was never attacked until 1255, when Louis IX requested the seneschal of Carcassonne, Pierre d'Auteuil, to seize it from Chabert de Barberia.

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« Reply #177 on: January 06, 2008, 03:46:18 am »

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EPILOGUE

The fall of Quéribus in 1255 marked the last dramatic military operation of the crusades against the Cathars. An earlier date of 1229 is often used, since it marked a 'political' resolution with the Treaty of Paris [also called Treaty of Meaux]. However, there remained a few loose ends.


Raymond VII's daughter, Jeanne, became comtess de Toulouse upon her father's death. She and her husband, Alphonse de Poitiers, died without heirs in 1271. As arranged in the 1229 treaty, Toulouse was annexed to the king of France.

Incidents of Catharism re-surfaced in the fourteenth century. Pierre Authié attempted, but failed, to introduce the belief in Languedoc. Guillaume Bélibaste was reportedly the last known Cathar to have been burned at the stake in 1321. Some may detect traces of sympathy with the Cathar's movement evidenced in the much later, strong receptivity of Protestantism in Languedoc -- if only as a rejection of the Catholic Church's authority. Some bemoan the loss of the distinctive troubadour and relatively tolerant culture of the twelfth-century Languedoc. However, this was probably more affected by the later impact of the Hundred Years' War.
Amaury de Montfort retired to his modest estate in Ile-de-Fance, and went on to serve the king. He was made constable of France in 1230, and joined a crusade to the Levant, where he was captured. He was released after 18 months, and died at Otranto, Italy (1241), as he was returning to France.


His younger brother, Simon, was Simon IV de Montfort l'Amaury's youngest son and also named 'Simon'. The younger Simon de Montfort left France for England, where the king, Henry III, restored Simon (as 'earl') to his ancestral lands in Leicester and married him to his sister. Simon later fell out with the king and sided with the barons in a reform movement. He died fighting the royal forces at the battle of Evesham (1265) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY


Aimer le pays cathare
Jean-Luc Aubarbier. 1992. A 1994 edited version, in idiom from Périgord, is the French text and basis for the following listed work.
Wonderful Cathar Country
Jean-Luc Aubarbier, Michel Binet, Jean-Pierre Bouchard; English translation by Angela Moyron. Editions Ouest-France, Rennes, 1994. Profusely illustrated with color photographs and descriptions to guide visits to the various sites as they exist today.
Le Drame albigeois et le Destin français
Jacques Madule. Bernard Grasset, Paris, 1961. English translation by Barbara Wall, The Albigensian Crusade (Fordam U., NY, 1967). A fine concise account and analysis of the epic as it related to the development of France. However, it lacks supporting citations.
The Albigensian Crusade
Jonathan Sumption. Faber, London, 1978 and 2000. A scholarly, comprehensive, and very readable narrative account in English.
The Albigensian Crusades
Joseph R. Strayer. Dial, New York, 1971; re published with an added Epilogue by Carol Lansing that explores aspects of the Cathar 'heresy' (U. of Michigan, 1992).
Historia Albigensis
Pierre des Vaux-de-Cerny. Edited by P. Guébin and E. Lyon, 3 vols., 1926-39. A young monk who was eyewitness to much of the crusade until 1219. An English tranlstion, with notes, by W.A. and M.D. Sibly has recently been published: The History of the Albigensian Crusades (Boydell, Suffolk, 1999).
La Croisade contre les Albigeois 1209-1249
Pierre Belperron. Librairie Plon, Paris, 1942; and Librairie académique Perrin, 1967.
Les Cathares
Arno Borst. Payot, Paris, 1984.
Le Catharisme: La Historie des Cathares
Jean Duvernoy. Privat, Toulouse, 1979.
Les grandes heures cathares
Dominique Paladilhe. Librairie académique Perrin, 1969. An itinerary through the cathare country.
The Inquisition : A Political and Military Study of its Establishment
Hoffmann Nickerson. John Bale, London, 1923 and 1932.
"Kill Them All... God Will Recognize His Own"
Douglas Hill. Military History Quarterly, Winter 1997 (9:2) pp.98-108.
The Yellow Cross, The Story of the Last Cathars 1290-1329
René Weis. Penguin, London, and Alfred A.Knopf, NY, 2000. A reconstruction and account of the late phase of the Cathar movement. Author employed latest geographical maps, Vatican documents, and a personal visit to the sites to provide a vivid description of what happened to individuals as the Inquisition moved in on a small, remote, community of Cathars that survived in the Pyrenees.

http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/albigens.htm

Considerable misunderstanding of medieval mechanical artillery is reflected in many publications. This has led to confusion over the rotating-beam machines (such as trébuchet and mongonel [mangonneau]) that were extensively employed during the many sieges of the Albigsenian Crusades. A women-crewed machine at Toulouse (1218) that killed Simon IV de Montfort suggests that the piece was a bricole, and not one of the larger configurations such as a trébuchet or mangonel. The smaller pieces were more suitable to place on the fortress ramparts. The bricole's size permitted smaller crews and a more rapid rate-of-fire. They were particularly effective against crews of larger siege artillery and attacking troops.
Further explanation is provided at the Société de l'Oriflamme's webppage on:
Medieval Non-Gunpowder Artillery

[ 12-26-2005, 03:24 AM: Message edited by: Danielle Gorree ]
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« Reply #178 on: January 06, 2008, 03:46:45 am »

Danielle Gorree

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   posted 12-26-2005 03:29 AM                       
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Apologies for the length of all that, but the Cathars, like the Templars were eliminated by the church, both were said to be keepers of the holy grail, and it is also worth noting that the Crusade that wiped them all out was the first upon European soil.
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« Reply #179 on: January 06, 2008, 03:47:44 am »

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   posted 12-31-2005 04:58 AM                       
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Revived Orders:

The Modern Templars (18th-20th c.)


The abrupt and dramatic end of the Order of the Temple in 1312, and the execution at the stake of its last Grand-Master Jacques de Molay in 1314, created the right conditions for future claims of resurgence. A similar phenomenon has occurred in the past with dynasties: the various impostors Czar Dimitri Ivanovich in 1605, the various people claiming to be Louis XVII (the most famous being Naundorff), the woman who claimed to be Anastasia daughter of the Czar Nicholas II, etc.

In Spain and Portugal, the surviving Templars were regrouped into new orders founded by the sovereigns. Elsewhere, the Templars endured various fates, but the organisation itself disappeared, its leadership killed, its assets confiscated and turned over to the Hospitallers of Saint-John.

In the 18th centuries several legends emerged, claiming that the Templars had in fact survived as an order. Jacques de Molay, on his way to death, had allegedly appointed someone as his successor and entrusted him with perpetuating the Order in secrecy. That successor is variously named as the preceptor of Auvergne (who fled to England but died there in jail) or an English knight. The successor is said to have gone to England or Scotland and found refuge among the mason guilds. Thus the secret traditions and knowledge of the Templars (acquired in the East, of course) were passed on to the masonic associations. Not surprisingly, these legends appear at the time when freemasonry is created in England and Scotland, in the early 18th century. Knights Templars became a grade in some forms of free-masonry in the mid-18th century, and it seems that an offshoot of that grade became an order in the US and Canada in the late 19th century (see Land, Robert Ernest Augustus: Fifty years in the Malta order. Toronto, 1928).

One particular revival occurred in 1804. Two French masons, Philippe Ledru (1754-1832) and Bernard-Raymond Fabré-Palaprat (1775-1838) found the Order of the Temple, and Fabré-Palaprat is made its grandmaster. Napoleon I, who viewed freemasonry favorably, allowed them to carry on their activities, including solemn processions in the streets of Paris (albeit in modern attire with mantles and toques). Later, in 1815, Sir William Sydney Smith (1764-1840) linked up with these neo-Templars. As admiral of the British navy he had successfully defended Acre against Napoleon in 1799, and supposedly was given by the Greek archbishop a Templars' cross (left in Acre by Richard Lionheart) in gratitude. This cross opened the doors for Sir Sydney who became a Templar and tried to create a branch in England, for which he was made Grand-Prior. His aim was to send the order to participate in the liberation and pacification of Greece and other areas under Ottoman control. He also dreamed of establishing a base in Malta and takin
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