Who the Cathars were...
A competition with Rome
From the 11th century onwards, the southern nobility of Languedoc (south of France) had shown a broadminded tolerance towards troubadours and Cathar heretics alike, welcoming them in their Castles, and even defending them.
Historically the word Cathar refers to the people who believed in a medieval Christian religion that sprang up on the continent around the middle of the 10th century and disappeared only 400 years later.
This long period shows, that catharism was not some minor event, it was a major occurence in religious history. Historians have found traces of the Cathar religion in Bulgaria and Asia Minor, in Greece and Northern Italy, in Catalonia and even in the Rhineland as well as in Burgundy, Flanders, Aquitaine and Bosnia (where catharism was established state religion until the turkish invasion destroyed it).
Ancient manuscripts tell us about undercover activities of clandestine groups, of communities both organized and emerging spontaneously.
Political backup in Occitania
It was in Occitania (occitania covers all southern France), that Catharism took on the mantle of a socially acceptable religion. Catharism here experienced its golden age backed by the great feudal families and the commitment of several generations of faithful.The competition with the Church of Rome awoke jealousy at the Vatican.
In 1233 Pope Gregory IX set up the inquisition. The whole population throughout Occitania hat to appear before the new religious tribunals held by the Dominicans and Franciscans.
For the first time in the history of western Christendom, there took place a complete census of an entire population, suspected of heresy.
The barbarity of war was followed by police terror, suspicion, denunciation, fear. By destroying social ties, fostering political solutions to previous conflicts, legitimising with the new law the confiscation of the possessions of Occitania's feudal powers and thus ensuring their disappearance, the inquisition reunified religious and political power. Occitania was submitted to France.
Occitania, a pre-democratic entity, which developped its own culture and religion was no more.
Cathar Country today
Today, throughout the stretch of Land that separates the Pyrenees from the Central Massif range, immemorial landmarks have survived that continue to bear witness to what was a crucial period in the history of Languedoc.
One of the most amazing sites is Lastours, just a few kilometers away from our Guesthouse. The four castles at Lastours : Cabaret, Tour Regine, Surdespine and Quertinheux. They are all built on the same rocky promontory. They controlled access into the Cabardes from the 11th century down to the French Revolution. These castles put up a truly impressive resistance at the time of the albigensian crusade. In July, there is a light show that tells the story of the Lastours Castles.
The following books about the Cathars is beeing recommended by the Center for Cathar Studies at Carcassonne :
- The Cathars by Malcolm Lambert, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 1998.
- Massacre at Montsegur, A History of the Albigensian Crusade, Zoe Oldenburg, Phoenix giant paperback, 1998
- The birth of popular Heresy, Bernard Hamilton, Historical Association Pamphlet, London, 1974.
The Center for Cathar Studies can answer enquiries and supply information on every aspect of Catharsim, particularly in the Languedoc, but also concerning the movement elsewhere in Europe.
Publications and documentation are available to the public at CEC, 53, rue de Verdun, 11000 Carcassonne, tel : 00 33 4 68 47 24 66.
The Cuxac Royal Drapery is an ideal base from which to explore Cathar Country.
Cathar weeks or week-ends: discover the history of the cathars with the Domaine de la Bonde
cathares@labonde-cuxac.com
