Cathar: Difference between revisions

For other uses, see Cathar (disambiguation).

The Cathars, also known as the Albigensians, were adherent to the beliefs of Catharism. Catharism was a belief-system which combined Christianity with apparent Manichaean influences; it was declared a heresy by the Catholic Church. Catharism was widespread for a short period of time in the Middle Ages in what is now south-western France, before being violently suppressed by French lords after the Catholic Church declared the Cathars a heretical sect.

History

Appearance of the Cathars

Beliefs, such as Bogomilism, had arrived in southern France via trade routes from Eastern Europe by the 11th Century. The first Cathars appeared in Limousin between 1012 and 1020, but by the 12th Century the movement had grown to become very popular and the Church considered it a threat.

Suppression

When he came to power in 1198, Pope Innocent III was determined to suppress the Cathars. At first he tried peaceful conversion; however priests sent in to convert the Cathars met with little success. The Cathars were protected by local nobles, and also by bishops who resented papal authority. In 1204 the Pope suspended the authority of the bishops in the south of France, appointing papal legates. In 1206 the Pope sought support for action from the nobles of Languedoc. Noblemen who protected the Cathars were excommunicated. Over many decades sieges and battles broke out between those protecting the Cathars and those seeking to overcome them; this series of military campaigns is known as the Albigensian Crusade and ended in pro-Cathar surrender when the French King intervened in 1229.

After the surrender the Medieval Inquisition was given almost unlimited power to suppress the Cathar heretics. Cathars were forced to recant, slaughtered or burned.

Later history

After the suppression of Catharism, descendants of Cathars were, in some southern French villages, required to live in a separate area outside the main village defences or below the main village. They thus retained a certain Cathar identity, although were Catholic in religion. This practice of separation, which was not very common, was ended during the French Revolution.

Catharism today

Any use of the term "Cathar" to refer to people after the suppression of Catharism in the fourteenth century is a cultural or ancestral reference, and has no religious implication. Nevertheless, interest in the Cathars, their history, legacy and beliefs continue. Also, the Cathars have been depicted in popular books such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail as a group of elite nobility somehow connected to "secrets" about the true nature of the Christian faith, although there is no critical proof of such secrets being kept.

Pays Cathare

The term Pays Cathare (French meaning "Land of the Cathars" or "Cathar country" ) is used to highlight the Cathar heritage and history of the region where Catharism was traditionally strongest. This area is centered around towns such as Montsegur and Carcassonne; also the French département of the Aude uses the title Pays Cathare in tourist brochures. These areas have ruins from the wars against the Cathars which are still visible today.

Some criticise the promotion of the identity of Pays Cathare as an exaggeration for tourist purposes.

Modern-day Cathars and Catharism

Some of the locals in the Pays Cathare region identify themselves as Cathars even today. They claim to be descended from the Cathars of the Middle Ages. It can be safely assumed that many local people have at least some ancestors who were Cathars.

There are also people alive today who espouse the Cathar religion, either in the Pays Cathare or elsewhere. [1]

Adherents to Cathar beliefs and practices can still be found in some villages in the French Pyrenees, both in the western part of the Department of Aude and in Ariege. Those who follow the Cathar practice are usually families of comparative wealth and influence, as they were during both the principal period of Catharism in the Languedoc and the final Cathar resurgence in the district of Montaillou more than seven hundred years previously. And continued.

See also

• Catharism
• Bogomils
• Albigensian Crusade
• Medieval Inquisition
• Cathar castles

External links

• The Cathars of the Languedoc in the South of France Origins, history, theology, suppression and modern vestiges.
• The Cathars. Philosophy of the catharism by the philosopher Yves Maris.
• [2] Cathar writings