The Cathars. Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages

-l :r:: m n -l> >:r:: 7' Vl THE MEDIEVAL WORLD Editor: David Bates John Moorlltad Ambrose John Moorhead Justinian JaILel Nelson Charles the Bald Paul Fouracre The Age of Charles Martel Richard Abels Alfred the Great M. K Lawson Cnut H. R. Lo)/Tt The English Church, 940- 1 154 Malcolm &rber The Cathars Janw A. Bnmdage Medieval Canon Law John Hudson The Formation of the English Common Law lindy Grant Abbot Suger of St-Denis David Crouch William Marshal Ralph V TuT7ltT The Reign of Richard Lionheart Ralph V Turner King John Jim Bradbury Philip Augustus Jane SaytrS Innocent m c. H. Lowrmu The Friars David Abultifia The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms 1200- 1500 Jean Dunbabin Charles I of Anjou Jennifer C. Ward English Noblewomen in the Later Middle Ages Michael Hicks Bastard Feudalism THE CATHARS Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages MALCOLM BARBER First published 2000 by Pearson Education Limited Published 2014 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint ofthe Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © Pearson Education Limited 2000 The right of Malcolm Barber to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the Publishers or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIT 4LP. ISBN 978-0-582-25661-3 (Pbk) British Library Cataloguing in Publication nata A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication nata Barber, Malcolm. The Cathars / Malcolm Barber. p. em. - (The medieval world) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-582-25662-3 (hardcover: alk. paper) - ISBN 0-582-25661-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Albigenses-France-Languedoc-History. 2. Languedoc (France)-Church history. I. Title. II. Series. BX4891.2.B37 2000 273'.6-dc21 00-022125 Typeset by 35 in 11/ 13pt Baskerville MT To Paddy McNulty andJim Holt This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Tables, Maps and Illustrations IX Editor's Preface .... XI Author's Preface Xlll Abbreviations ....... XV Introduction 1. 1. The Spread of Catharism 6 Dualism 6 The Bogomils 12 The origins of dualism in the West 21 2. The Cathars and Languedocian Society 34 The nobility 34 The territorial lords 43 The clergy 58 Urban society 63 Catharism and social structure 68 3. The Cathar Church 71 The Cathar hierarchy 71 The cansolamentum 76 Cathar theology . 81 Moral and ethical teaching 93 Popular Cathar belief ....... 96 The attraction of Catharism 104 4. The Catholic Reaction 107 The justification for force 107 The campaigns against heresy in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries III The Albigensian Crusades 120 5. The Decline of Catharism 141 The Treaty of Paris, 1229 141 The inquisitors 144 Resistance 150 VII CONTENTS The Italian connection ........................................................................................... J 64 The operation of the Inquisition ............................................................................ J 69 6. The Last Cathars ............................................................................... 176 The Autier revival .......................................... ........ .. .............................................. 176 Heresy in Carcassonne and Albi ........................... .. ........................ .. .. ............ ...... 190 The end of Catharism in Languedoc ................................................. ................... J 96 7. Cathars after Catharism .................................................................... 203 Deodat Roche, Simone Weil, and OUo Rahn ...................................................... 203 Protestantism and Catharism ................................. .. .............................................. 212 The Cathars and Occitan identity ......................................................................... 216 Further Reading ................................................................................. 226 References .......................................................................................... 239 Tables ................................................................................................. 254 Maps ................................................................................................... 260 Index ................................................................................................... 267 VlIl TABLES, MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS TABLES 1. The Albigensian Crusades: chronology 254 2. The A1bigensian Crusades: Simon of Montfort's campaigns 256 3. The Autier Revival: chronology 258 MAPS 1. T he Bogomils in the Byzantine Empire 260 2. The political structure of Languedoc before the Albigensian Crusades 261 3. The geography of Catharism in Languedoc 262 4. Territories affected by the Albigensian Crusades 263 5. The Italian connection: the links between Languedoc and Lombardy in the thirteenth century 264 6. The milieu of the Cathar Bonhommc, Bernard Acier of Couffoulens, 1241-59 265 7. The world of the Autier revival, 1299 - 1321 266 ILLUSTRATIONS 1. The fortified village of Minerve, south walls overlooking the confluence of the rivers Cesse and Brian 42 2. Carcassonne from the south as restored by Viollet-le-Duc between 1852 and 1879 47 3. Carcassonne, Chateau comtal 48 4. Basilica of Saint Sernin, Toulouse, east end 62 5. The four castles of Lastours from the south. Cabaret is the most northerly 125 6. Cabaret from the south-east 126 IX TAB LE S. MAP SAN 0 I LL U ST RA T ION S 7. Cabaret from the south-west 127 8. The keep at Cabaret 128 9. The castle of Peyrepertuse from the west 161 10. Peyrepertuse from the north 162 II. The chapel at Peyrepertuse 163 12. The remains of the castle of Montaillou 183 13. The cathedral of Saint Cecilia, Albi, from the south 193 14. Albi cathedral from the north 194 15. The title page of Jean-Paul Perrin's Histoire des Vaudois, 1619 edition 215 16. Montsegur. It was rebuilt in the second half of the thirteenth century 219 17. 'Cathar' wine and 'bonhomme' adhesive labels 223 18. Commemorative stone on the Esplanade du Plo, Jardin de l'Eveche, at the site of the castle of Lavaur. 'A Lavaur, Ie peuple occitan perdit son independance mais dans sept siecles Ie laurier reverdira.' 224 x EDITOR'S PREFACE The spread of Catharism in Western Europe in the twelfth century is one of the most fascinating and significant episodes in the history of medieval Europe. Although heresies of various kinds were a consistent feature of the history of the Byzantine Empire throughout the Middle Ages, Catharism was the first organised and theologically coherent heresy to develop in West ern Europe since the time of the Late Roman Empire. The seemingly monolithic Catholic Church, the papacy and its priesthood, were challenged in ways which were novel and very threatening. After initial attempts at debate and persuasion, their reaction ultimately took the forms of violence and persecution. The development of techniques of institutionalised repres sion associated with the Inquisition shaped many aspects of the history of the succeeding centuries. Although the heretical movements of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries were geographically widespread - there was even an outbreak in England - they became most deeply entrenched in northern Italy and south-western France. In the midst of the extensive literature on medieval heresy published since the great upsurge of interest in the 1960s, no accessible book for the student and general reader has ever been devoted specifically to Languedoc, the region where Catharism undoubtedly left its deepest imprint, and which is to this day most closely associated with it. This book is therefore a very welcome addition to The Medieval World series. The history of Catharism is a complex phenomenon, whose development and decline requires familiarity with, among other things, Catholic and Cathar theology, the peculiarities of Occitan society, the Crusades and the procedures of the Inquisition. Professor Barber's book covers all these themes, moving forward from a thorough analysis of the relationship between Languedocian Catharism to eastern European heresies to the place of Catharism in south-western French society and the organisation of the Cathar Church. Extensive quotations from con temporary sources are inserted at key moments in the text. While the book's core is beyond doubt the central chapters devoted to the Cathar Church, the Catholic reaction and Catharism's decline, Professor Barber adds a very illuminating final chapter on the twentieth-century idealisation of the Cathars and their exploitation by the tourist industry. Xl EDITOR'S PREFACE Malcolm Barber is not only a scholar who has written extensively on the Cathars and Catharism, but also one with an exceptionally wide interest in many aspects of the medieval Church and its institutions as well as the general history of medieval Europe. As a result, he writes with vigour and authority, not just about Catharism and the society of south-western France, but about matters such as the canon law background to persecution, evolving papal authority,

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