Labyrinth

Historical Note

In March 1208, Pope Innocent III preached a Crusade against a sect of Christians in the Languedoc. They are now usually known as Cathars.

They called themselves Bons Chretiens; Bernard of Clairvaux called them Albigensians and the Inquisitional Registers refer to them as heretici.

Pope Innocent aimed to drive the Cathars from the Midi and restore the religious authority of the Catholic Church. The northern French barons who joined his Crusade saw an opportunity to acquire land, wealth and trading advantage by subjugating the fiercely independent southern nobility.

Although the principle of crusading had been an important fixture of medieval Christian life since the late eleventh century – and during the Fourth Crusade at the siege of Zara in 1204 Crusaders had turned on fellow Christians – this was the first time a Holy War had been preached against Christians and on European soil. The persecution of the Cathars led directly to the founding of the Inquisition in 1233 under the auspices of the Dominicans, the Black Friars.

Whatever the religious motivations of the Catholic Church and some of the Crusade’s temporal leaders – such as Simon de Montfort – the Albigensian Crusade was ultimately a war of occupation and marked a turning point in the history of what is now France. It signified the end of the independence of the South and the destruction of many of its traditions, ideals and way of life.

Like the term “Cathar‘, the word ”Crusade’ was not used in medieval documents. The army was referred to as “the Host‘ – or l’Ost in Oc. However, since both terms are now in common usage, I’ve sometimes borrowed them for ease of reference.