A Clash of Cultures The Impact of Disinheritance in the Early Years of the Albigensian Crusade By Sunniva Klareng Bergsvik Master Thesis in History University of Oslo Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History Faculty of Humanities Spring 2021 1 Table of Contents Abbreviations: ................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 6 Historiography ........................................................................................................................... 7 The Topic Question: ................................................................................................................... 9 What does this dissertation add to the current historiography? .............................................. 10 Method ..................................................................................................................................... 11 The Term Heresy .......................................................................................................................... 13 The sources .............................................................................................................................. 13 The Song of the Albigensian Crusade by William de Tudela ....................................................... 13 The Chanson by The anonymous continuer .................................................................................. 14 The History of the Albigensian Crusade by Peter les Vaux-de-Cernay ........................................ 16 The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens ...................................................................................... 17 Names and Short Biography: .......................................................................................... 19 The Counts and Viscounts of the Midi: ................................................................................... 19 Crusaders ................................................................................................................................. 20 Kings and Popes ....................................................................................................................... 21 Representatives from the Church: ........................................................................................... 22 Timeline: ......................................................................................................................... 24 Part I: The Foundation of Montfort’s Overlordship ...................................................... 28 I.I. The Vergentis in Senium .................................................................................................... 28 I.II. The Election of Montfort as the New Viscount ................................................................. 30 I.II.I Stealing Another Man’s Land .............................................................................................. 31 I.III. The Case of the Count of Nevers ..................................................................................... 37 I.III.I The Indulgence .................................................................................................................... 40 I.III.II Material Incentives ............................................................................................................ 40 I.III.III A Burden and an Honour: Did the Risk Outweigh the Gain? ........................................... 42 I.III.IV Why Did the Count of Nevers go to the Midi? ................................................................ 44 I.III.V The Three Noblemen that Refused .................................................................................... 49 I.III.VI Summary .......................................................................................................................... 50 Part II: The Nobility in the Midi and the Resistance ...................................................... 52 II.I The King of Aragon: Mediator and Overlord ................................................................... 53 II.I.I The Peculiar Meeting Between the Occitan Knights and the King of Aragon ..................... 58 II.II The Case of Giraud de Pépieux ........................................................................................ 60 II.III The Dispossession of the Remaining Trencavel .............................................................. 67 II.IV The Fortified Castrum: A Different Kind of Lordship ................................................... 69 II.IV.I Topography, mercenaries, violence and defence ............................................................... 70 II.IV.II Revisiting the case of Surdespine ..................................................................................... 72 II.IV.III Trust and the oath ........................................................................................................... 74 II.IV.IV Montfort, trust and disinheritance ................................................................................... 77 II.IV.V Summary .......................................................................................................................... 78 Part III: The Far Reaching Result of the Disinheritance in the Former Trencavel Lands ......................................................................................................................................... 79 III.I. The Displacement of the Nobility .................................................................................... 79 III.II Passive Resistance ........................................................................................................... 86 Part IV: Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 89 2 Map I: Map of Castra sworn to the Trencavel ................................................................ 92 Map II: Political Map of the Midi ................................................................................... 93 Map III: The Trencavel Lands ....................................................................................... 94 Genealogies ..................................................................................................................... 95 I. The Viscounts of Béziers, Trencavel ..................................................................................... 95 II: The Counts of Toulouse ...................................................................................................... 95 III: Kings of Aragon, Counts of Barcelona .............................................................................. 96 IV: Counts of Foix and Comminges ......................................................................................... 96 Archive Sources: ............................................................................................................. 97 Primary Sources .............................................................................................................. 97 Secondary Sources .......................................................................................................... 98 3 Abbreviations: Cain = Innocent III. Ut esset Cain. RELMIN. 18.05.20. Link: http://telma.irht.cnrs.fr/outils/relmin/extrait30493/ Canon 27 = Lateran III. Canon 27. ewtn. 19.05.20. Link: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/history-and-text-1464 CT = La Cartulaire dit de Trencavel, La Société Archéologique de Montpellier, MS 10 Doat = La Collection Doat à la Bibliothèque nationale de France. vol. 168 HGL = Vic, Claude and Vaissète, Joseph. Histoire Générale de Languedoc. vol. VIII, E. Privat. Toulouse. 1872. Digitalized 19.06.2008. https://archive.org/details/histoiregnra08viccuoft/page/xii/mode/2up Gaules = Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, vol. 19. Ed. Brial. M.J.J., Daunou, P.C.F., Naudet, J. Paris : Imprimerie royale. 1833. Link : https://archive.org/details/RecueilDesHistoriensDesGaules191833/page/n9/mo de/2up?q=periculis+fluminium History = Vaux-de-Cernay, Peter. The History of the Albigensian Crusade. Translated by W.A. Sibly and M.D. Sibly. The Boydell Press. Org. 1998, reprint 2002. Puylaurens = Puylaurens, William. The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens. The Albigensian Crusade and its Aftermath. Translated by W.A. Sibly and M.D. Sibly. The Boydell Press. 2003. Chanson = Tudela, William, and Anonymous Continuer. The Song of the Cathar Wars. Translated by Janet Shirley. Routledge. 2016. 4 PL 215 = Patrologiae cursus completus : sive biblioteca universalis,integra uniformis, commoda, oeconomica, omnium SS. Patrum, doctorum scriptorumque eccelesiasticorum qui ab aevo apostolico ad usque Innocentii III tempora floruerunt ... [Series Latina, in qua prodeunt Patres, doctores scriptoresque Ecclesiae Latinae, a Tertulliano ad Innocentium III] Ed. Migne, Jacques-Paul. Paris 1844. Digitalized 15.06.2009. Volume 215. Link: https://archive.org/details/patrologiaecurs133unkngoog PL 216 = Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Latina: Sive, Bibliotheca Universalis, Integra, Uniformis, Commoda, Oeconomica, Omnium SS. Patrum, Doctorum Scriptorumque Ecclesiasticorum Qui Ab Aevo Apostolico Ad Usuque Innocentii III Tempora Floruerunt. Ed. Migne, Jacques-Paul. Volume 216. Paris. 1855. Digitalized 05.03.2014, University of California. Link: https://books.google.no/books?id=3BpAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA215&dq=Patrol