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Catharism was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Followers were described as Cathars and referred to themselves as Good Christians; in modern times, they are mainly remembered for a prolonged period of mutual conflict and religious persecution – sometimes regarded as genocide – by the Catholic Church which deemed Catharism a heretical sect.
The Medieval Inquisition was a series of Inquisitions from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition (1184–1230s) and later the Papal Inquisition (1230s). The Medieval Inquisition was established in response to movements considered apostate or heretical to Roman Catholicism, in particular Catharism and Waldensians in Southern France and Northern Italy. These were the first movements of many inquisitions that would follow.
The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect. It resulted in the significant reduction of practicing Cathars and a realignment of the County of Toulouse with the French crown. The distinct regional culture of Languedoc was also diminished.
Athleta Christi was a class of Early Christian soldier martyrs or military saints, of whom the most familiar example is probably Saint Sebastian. It also could be used to refer to Christians with exemplary martial prowess, especially when fighting against non-Christians or heretics.
Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, known as Simon IVde Montfort and as Simon de Montfort the Elder, was a French nobleman and knight of the early 13th century. He is widely regarded as one of the great military commanders of the Middle Ages. He took part in the Fourth Crusade and was one of the prominent figures of the Albigensian Crusade. Montfort is mostly noted for his campaigns in the latter, notably for his triumph at Muret. He died at the Siege of Toulouse in 1218. He was Seigneur of Montfort from 1188 to his death and Earl of Leicester in England from 1204. He was also Viscount of Albi, Béziers and Carcassonne from 1213, as well as Count of Toulouse from 1215.
Jacques de Vitry was a French canon regular who was a noted theologian and chronicler of his era. He was elected bishop of Acre in 1214 and made cardinal in 1229. His Historia Orientalis is an important source for the historiography of the Crusades.
Raymond VI was Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence from 1194 to 1222. He was also Count of Melgueil from 1173 to 1190.
Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a troubadour, and then as a fiercely anti-Cathar bishop of Toulouse.
The Song of the Albigensian Crusade is an Old Occitan epic poem narrating events of the Albigensian Crusade from March 1208 to June 1219. Modelled on the Old French chanson de geste, it was composed in two distinct parts: William of Tudela wrote the first towards 1213, and an anonymous continuator finished the account. However, recent studies have proposed the troubadour Gui de Cavalhon as the author of the second part. It is one of three major contemporary narratives of the Albigensian Crusade, the Historia Albigensis of Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay and the Chronica of William of Puylaurens being the others.
Cronica is the short title of a history of Catharism and the Albigensian Crusade by the 13th century Toulousain author Guillaume de Puylaurens.
Arnaud Amalric was a Cistercian abbot who played a prominent role in the Albigensian Crusade. It is reported that prior to the massacre of Béziers, Amalric, when asked how to distinguish Cathars from Catholics, responded, "Kill them [all], for God knows which are His own."
Cathar castles are a group of medieval castles located in the Languedoc region. Some had a Cathar connection in that they offered refuge to dispossessed Cathars in the thirteenth century. Many of these sites were replaced by new castles built by the victorious French Crusaders and the term Cathar castle is also applied to these fortifications despite their having no connection with Cathars. The fate of many Cathar castles, at least for the early part of the Crusade, is outlined in the contemporary Occitan "Chanson de la Croisade", translated into English as the "Song of the Cathar Wars ".
Esclarmonde of Foix, was a prominent figure associated with Catharism in thirteenth century Occitania.
The Poor Catholics were an early Catholic mendicant order, organized in 1208 and of short duration. Recruits were taken from the Pauperes Lugdunenses ; the distinguishing name was given by Pope Innocent III.
Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in northern France (Île-de-France), situated in Cernay-la-Ville, in the Diocese of Versailles, Yvelines.
William was Count of Jülich from 1207 to 1219. He was a nephew of the previous Count, William II. He married Mathilde, daughter of Waleran III, Duke of Limburg. He died in 1219 during the Fifth Crusade in Egypt, and was succeeded by his son William IV.
The siege of Minerve was a military engagement which took place in June and July 1210 during the Albigensian Crusade in the town of Minerve in southern France. It was undertaken by the Catholic Crusaders against the Cathars in southern France, who were regarded as a heretical sect. The Crusaders, led by French nobleman Simon de Montfort, besieged and captured the town. The Crusaders allowed the soldiers defending the town, Catholics, and any Cathars who had not yet reached the status of perfect to go free. Three Cathar perfects who repented were pardoned, but 140 others who refused to do so were burnt at the stake.
Guy was the sixth Cistercian abbot of Vaux-de-Cernay from 1181 until 1210 and then the bishop of Carcassonne from 1212 until his death. The crusades dominated his life. He was a preacher, organizer and spiritual leader of the Fourth Crusade, which he abandoned after it turned against fellow Catholics, and also of the Albigensian Crusade against heretics.
The Confraternity of the Holy Spirit of Marseille was a religious association founded in Marseille in 1212 for the defence of the faith and rights of the Catholic Church at the time of the Albigensian Crusade. It was founded by the apostolic legate Arnaud Amaury, partially to rehabilitate the name of the Holy Spirit, which had become strongly associated with the Cathar heresy.
References
- Pascal Guébin and Ernest Lyon (1939), Petri Vallium Sarnaii monachi Hystoria albigensis
- Pascal Guébin and Henri Maisonneuve (1951), Histoire albigeoise (three volumes)
- W. A. Sibly and M. D. Sibly, History of the Albigensian Crusade: Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay's 'Historia Albigensis' (1998)
- C. M. Kurpiewski, Writing beneath the shadow of heresy: the Historia Albigensis of Brother Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay, Journal of Medieval History 31 (2005), 1, pp. 1–27,
