Tarn is a department located in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Named after the river Tarn, it had a population of 387,890 as of 2017. Its prefecture and largest city is Albi. The inhabitants of Tarn are known, in French, as Tarnais and Tarnaises.
The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars, but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse in Languedoc, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown, and diminishing both Languedoc's distinct regional culture and the influence of the counts of Barcelona.
Albi is a commune in southern France. It is the prefecture of the Tarn department, on the river Tarn, 85 km northeast of Toulouse. Its inhabitants are called Albigensians. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Albi. The episcopal city, around the Cathedral Sainte-Cécile, was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2010.
Castres is a commune, and arrondissement capital in the Tarn department and Occitanie region in southern France. It lies in the former French province of Languedoc.
Gaillac is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. It had in 2013 a population of 14,334 inhabitants.
The Council of Saint-Félix, a landmark in the organisation of the Cathars, was held at Saint-Felix-de-Caraman, now called Saint-Félix-Lauragais, in 1167. The senior figure, who apparently presided and gave the consolamentum to the assembled Cathar bishops, was papa Nicetas, Bogomil bishop of Constantinople.
Nicetas, known only from Latin sources who call him papa Nicetas, is said to have been the Bogomil bishop of Constantinople. In the 1160s he went to Lombardy. His purpose was apparently to reinforce the dualist beliefs of the Cathars of these regions, and, in particular, to throw doubt on the validity of their spiritual lineage or ordo, the sequence of consolamenta by which they were linked to the Apostles.
Guillaume de Puylaurens is a 13th-century Latin chronicler, author of a history of Catharism and of the Albigensian Crusade.
Verfeil is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Cecilia, also known as Albi Cathedral, is the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Albi. First built in the aftermath of the Albigensian Crusade, the grim exterior resembles a fortress, but the interior is lavishly decorated with art and sculpture, a very ornate choir screen, and walls in bright blues and golds, in the Toulousian or Southern French Gothic. It was begun in 1282 and was under construction for 200 years. It is claimed to be the largest brick building in the world. In 2010 the cathedral, along with its episcopal buildings, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Pons d'Arsac was the Archbishop of Narbonne from 1162 until 1181. He was archbishop at an important time in the history of Narbonne and Languedoc in general; a time when the Roman Catholic Church denounced the local religious way of life as heretical.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Albi (–Castres–Lavaur), usually referred to simply as the Archdiocese of Albi, is a non-metropolitan archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in southern France. The archdiocese comprises the whole of the department of Tarn, and has itself been suffragan, since the 2002 provinces reform, to the Archdiocese of Toulouse, a metropolitan archdiocese.
Castelnau-de-Lévis is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
Villeneuve-sur-Vère is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
Castelnau-de-Montmiral is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France.
Penne is a village and a commune in the Tarn department of the administrative region of Occitanie in southern France, formerly known as the Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées region.
The Dadou is a 115.8 km (72.0 mi) long river in the Tarn department in southern France. Its source is near Saint-Salvi-de-Carcavès. It flows generally west. It is a right tributary of the Agout, into which it flows near Ambres.
The Tarn department, is situated in the southwest of France.
Southern French Gothic is a specific and militant style of Gothic architecture developed in the South of France, especially in the Toulouse region. It arose in the early 13th century following the victory of the Catholic church over the Cathars, as the church sought to re-establish its authority in the region. As a result, church buildings typically present features drawn from military architecture. Taking into account the Cathars' criticism of the Catholic Church, Southern French Gothic is simpler and less ornate than northern French Gothic, and further differs in that the construction material is typically brick rather than stone. Over time, the style came to influence secular buildings as well as churches and spread beyond the area where Catharism had flourished.
