There are events in history that excite the imagination of people either with their drama, or with perfect feats and examples of unheard-of self-sacrifice, or with the extraordinary mystery surrounding them. Everything connected with the Albigensians (Cathars) has all these signs …
In the XI-XIII centuries in the Pyrenees, on the border of modern Spain and France, there was a rich independent state of Languedoc with its capital in Toulouse.
The cities of Languedoc (Toulouse, Narbonne, Albi, Beziers) at that time were the largest cultural and economic centers of Western Europe. The favorable climate, favorable geographical location contributed to prosperity and attracted thousands of people from different lands here. Long-standing ties and lucrative trade with the countries of the Mediterranean East have generated wealth and a sense of independence, especially from the obsessive ruling Catholic clergy.
The 13th century writer Guillaume de Guillaurens stated that the Languedoc population treated the Roman clergy worse than the Jews and Arabs.
"Clean" and "perfect"
It so happened that a heresy arose in the city of Albi, which quickly spread among the townspeople, merchants, and peasants. The adherents of heresy were called Albigensians. Soon almost all the inhabitants of Languedoc, together with their lords, joined the new doctrine.
The Albigensians called themselves Cathars ("pure"), and their mentors - Perfects ("perfect"). The perfects abstained from meat and were celibate. The Cathars denied the existence of saints, holy icons and relics, did not honor the Old Testament, but recognized the books of the New Testament. Christ was viewed by them not as a savior who died on the cross to atone for sins, but as an emanation of divinity that descended to earth to open people's eyes to their true position. The Lord never incarnated in the flesh, and his bodily form, like the crucifixion, was an illusion. For this reason, the Cathars rejected the sanctity of the cross - the spiritual symbol of Christians. For them, the cross was only an instrument of torture, with the help of which the Roman Church seduced millions of people, forcing them to worship a false idol.
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They did not recognize church ordinances, especially baptism and marriage. Baptism was considered useless, because it is performed on infants who have no reason, and in no way protects a person from future sins. An evil god, and this is Jehovah - the god of the Old Testament, made a difference between the sexes, while the New Testament says that in Christ there is neither male nor female. It is not surprising that men and women were equal for the Cathars.
The Cathars denounced the vices of the Catholic clergy and popes and created their own church organization, which they opposed to the Catholic Church. At initiation, they pledged not to kill, not to lie, and not to renounce their faith “for fear of water, fire or any other kind of punishment,” and therefore heretics were not afraid of death, which was shown by subsequent events when they courageously accepted the burning at the stake.
The views of the Albigensians went back to the teachings of the Persian prophet Mani, accused of heresy and executed by the Iranian shah at the end of the 3rd century. His followers (Manicheans) dispersed around the world, preaching the doctrine according to which our land is a field of constant struggle between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, God and the devil. The surrounding material world is a product of the devil, and the true purpose of man is to contribute to the triumph of spirit and goodness.
For the first time, a teaching close to the Cathars was noticed in the middle of the 10th century in distant Bulgaria, where priest Bogomil lived at that time, a very mysterious personality. His words shook the whole country, because he revealed to people what had been hidden from them for a long time. He explained why from time immemorial blood and tears of people have been shedding, and no one will say why the Lord is so helpless. And all because the clergy are afraid to say that there are two gods: good and evil - the Lord and Lucifer. The first created the soul, the second the body. Bogomils were very popular in Europe. They soon penetrated into the prosperous Languedoc, where their teachings turned into a force capable of ousting the Catholic religion from Europe.
Pope's fears
In fear of the widespread sectarian movement that threatened to snatch such a tidbit as Southern France from the hands of the church, the Pope called on the knights of northern France, who were looking for an opportunity to fill their meager bins by robbing their wealthy neighbors, to a crusade against the Albigensians. For the sake of this punitive expedition, the Inquisition was established, after which any doubt about the dogmas of the faith became mortally dangerous in the Western world.
In 1208, not wanting to put up with the heresy that had seized the Languedoc and the insults against Rome and Jesus Christ himself, Pope Innocent III demanded that Count of Toulouse Raimund VI punish his disobedient subjects. But the powerful count refused, and then the pope announced a crusade (in alliance with the French king) against the heretics.
The cruel knight Simon de Montfort became the leader of the crusaders. He captured Albi and Toulouse. Thousands of heretics were killed and burned at the stake. In one day, 20 thousand people were killed in Béziers, most of whom were women, children and old people.
"Holy Father, how to distinguish Cathars from good Catholics?" - asked some soldier of the papal legate Arnold Amalric, who accompanied the army of Montfort. "Kill everyone: God will recognize his own!" - answered the legate. Beziers burned for three days.
During a 20-year bloody war, the crusaders exterminated over a million civilians, turning flourishing cities and villages into ruins. The crusaders won. The remains of the Albigensians were exterminated by the Inquisition at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century. The unique medieval material and spiritual culture of Languedoc was completely destroyed.
All residents were expelled from a number of cities, and their property was distributed to the crusaders. The same was done with the inhabitants of Carcassonne. The young Viscount Raimund Roger Trancavel, who ruled the fortified city, openly sided with the Albigensians - he sheltered heretics behind the powerful castle walls. As a result of the many-day siege of Carcassonne by the crusaders, the city walls were broken and the city was taken, and the viscount died (according to another version, was killed) in captivity.
The last stronghold
The last battle headquarters of the Albigensians was at the castle of Montsegur. Located in the mountains, almost at the top of a pointed peak, the castle seemed inaccessible. According to legend, Monsegur was built by the "perfect" themselves. They built it in the form of a pentagon with a diagonal of 54 meters and a width of 13 meters. Here, in deep secrecy, they performed unknown rituals and secretly from everyone, even from the initiates, certain spiritual treasures of the Albigensians were kept and, as they assured, the Holy Grail.
Three hundred soldiers who made up the garrison of the fortress resisted 10 thousand crusaders for almost a year. Uniting around their aged perfect, Bertrand d'An Marty, they prepared to be martyred.
One night, the crusaders dragged a heavy catapult onto a rocky platform and threw stones at the castle. These cores still lie at the broken walls of Montsegur. However, four "perfect" managed to secretly leave the fortress. The commandant of the fortress Arnaud-Roger de Mirpois informed the Tribunal of the Inquisition about this under torture, since he himself organized their escape. “They took our treasures with them,” de Mirpois said. - All the secrets of the Cathars were in this package. Probably, including the Holy Grail.
The monastery fell on March 16, 1244, and soon 257 surviving Cathars went to the stake in a place called the Field of the Burned.
Irina STREKALOVA