Cathars: Extermination of the Pure

Transcription

1 Cathars: Extermination of the Pure By Pedro Silva Source They used to affirm that Jesus was not the son of God and defend the equality between women and men. Know the history of the cathars, christians who were victims of a crusade and target of the Inquisition. Outsiders arrive to the small village without causing any fuss. After traveling hundreds of kilometers on foot, their walk became dragged and their footwear deteriorated. They have a shaved head and were dressed in shabby way, with a long black cassock attached by a thin strip of leather. After a virtually non-existent reception, they begin to be recognized and respected by the community. In a short time, they will become religious leaders able to stand up against to the influence of the powerful Catholic Church. At the end of the 12th century, the scenes described above would become increasingly common in the large Languedoc, in the southern of present France. City after city, the cathars were spreading their faith, based on simplicity and in the pursuit of purity (katharos, in Greek, means "pure"). The religion was born from christianity, but it was marked by deep differences in relation of the Vatican doctrines. Accused of heresy and even called of devil worshipers, the cathars provoked a ruthless reaction of the papacy. 1

2 The effort to eliminate them included a crusade and was one of the major reasons for the creation of the Holy Office Tribunal - better known as the Inquisition. In the 14th century, about 200 years after catharism has emerged, his last representatives were swept away from the map. To understand the intensity of the violence promoted by the Catholic Church against them, it is essential understand how the cathars were able to win the medieval hearts and minds. And his brutal elimination is one of the best examples of the incredible power of the papacy over the Europe of the Middle Ages. Showy bishops The first cathar group known appeared in the decade of 1120, in the city of Limousin. Soon they came to the nearby villages such as Albi, Toulouse and Carcassonne, always in Languedoc. The region, separated from the rest of French territory by the Pyrenees Mountains, was ruled by the dynasty of Raimundos. Was prosperous land, strong in agriculture and in the textile industry. At first glance, it would be difficult to predict that in a place so stable - and religious - could emerge a belief that would challenge the Church. But in that time, the medieval society was undergoing by major transformations. The Europe was living a phase of population growth and improvement of the living conditions, with the development of medieval towns. In the urban environment, the contact between people was increasing and the quest for knowledge. A portion of the population then began to reflect about several issues, including faith itself. In the source of the expansion of christianity, which had occurred about nine centuries earlier, there were values such as poverty, personal suffering and the feeling of oneness with God. Around the 11th century, however, the situation of the clergy was not exactly that. On the other hand, great religious buildings proliferated, beautifully decorated - some of them started the style that became known as "gothic", which characterizes some of the main cathedrals of Europe. In addition, the christian priests (especially the bishops and their local representatives, the priests) used the resources of the Church to ensure for themselves a quiet life. The typical image of christianity, that thin Jesus, with sad look and agonizing on the cross, was just a vague recollection - the profile of the clergy was closer to pudgy bishop of showy clothes and adorned fingers with all sorts of jewelry. Below the dogmas Faced with the contradictions of the Church, the influence of the cathars was advancing quickly. In 1167, some of them have gathered in the meeting that marked the official birth of the new religion: the council of Saint-Félix-de-Caraman (today Saint-Félix-Lauragais, in southern of France). Appeared not only cathars of Languedoc, but from more distant areas such as Lombardy (in present Italy) and Catalonia (now in Spain). Very little is known about what happened at the meeting. She was probably led by a man named Nicetas - a dissident Christian coming from Constantinople and nicknamed "Pope" - and organized the catharism bases. For the cathars, the holy book was the Bible (especially the New Testament). Their religion, however, differed much of the catholicism. The fundamental principle was dualism: according to him, the world would consist of two opposite and coexistent realms. 2

3 The first, led by God, would be invisible and luminous, where only the good would exist. The second kingdom, material and visible, would be controlled by the devil. In other words, according to catharism, the hell was on earth. And the purpose of the human life would be to escape from evil through purification of spirits, reincarnation after reincarnation. If this were done, when the Last Judgment reached, all would be saved and would go to the kingdom of God. In spite of they consider themselves christians, the cathars did not believe that Jesus was the Gods son. He was only considered an important prophet, who had publicized some ideals that would deserved to be followed. To complete the affront to catholicism, the cathars saw John the Baptist as nothing less than an instrument in service of the devil. After all, through baptism, he would have fulfilled the prophecy that Jesus was the messiah - something in which, as we saw the catharism did not believe. Just like the theory, the practice of the cathars was quite different from the catholics. They refused the ritual of the sacred host (in their ceremonies, simple enough, there was only the distribution of bread). Neither accepted the subordinate role that the roman papacy reserved for women - to catharism, the human being did not admit distinction between sexes. For them it was allowed even celebrate religious rites. The authority of the pope or of the bishops was not recognized by the cathars. Without a single spiritual leadership, they shared the followers of religion on three levels. The highest level of them was the Perfect, also known as "good men". To reach this place, was necessary to go through hard trials and receive the Consolamentum, the only cathar sacrament (which, in certain way, would summed up in one baptism, the ordination and the extreme unction). The Perfect were celibate and used to spend much of the day in prayer and fasting. Below the Perfect were the Believers, a category that would gather the vast majority of the cathars. They shared of the virtue and humility practices, but they were not bound to any type of abstinence. They could marry (although they used to prefer the concubinage) and only were entitled to receive the Consolamentum at death moment. The third level of the cathar society was composed by the Listeners. Sympathizers of the religion, they followed the lectures of the Perfect and they used to bow their heads before them to receive the blessing. At the turn of the 13th century, the advance of the cathars had become the major concern of the Church. "There was a danger that the contestation to the order imposed by Rome could be rapidly extended to other regions of christianity," wrote historian Ernest Bendriss in an article published in the Spanish magazine History and Life in march of The reaction would not take a long time to come. 3

4 Weapons against the faith "Kill all of us. God will know to recognize his! "According to some records, it was with these words that the abbot Arnoldo de Amaury incited the total annihilation of the cathars who were hiding in the fortress of Béziers, in Languedoc, in July Some defend the thesis that the sentence was never said. Any way, it sums up well the spirit of the bloody Albigensian Crusade - because of to the large concentration of cathars in the town of Albi, they were also known as "albigensians". Before to appeal to the arms, however, the Church tried to combat catharism in the field of faith. There are reports that, between 1165 and 1198, the cathars were persecuted publicly in such disparate places as Lombers (France), Cologne (Germany) and Oxford (England). To hear and judge the heretics, the Church created ecclesiastical courts. Thanks to the experience of the cathars as speakers, however, they defended themselves brilliantly of the charges and they saw their faith win religious status. Although there have been some convictions, the prestige of the Perfect emerged strengthened. In 1205, Domingos de Gusmão created the order of Dominicans. Preaching an exemplary moral stance and the return to the original principles of christendom, they tried to compete with the "purity" of the cathars. The problem is that the catholic priests could not get closer to the population as the Perfect. When a cathar leader came to a village, his first concern was to find employment. After working in the day to keep himself, he dedicated the night to dialogue with the local people, seeking to convey his religious concepts. Meanwhile, the catholic monks were rarely seen in contact with the people - they opted in general for closure. Faced with the continuing loss of the faithful, pope Inocencio III decreed the confiscation of the proprieties of those considered heretics. His will was fulfilled everywhere in Europe. Except in the Languedoc, where the rulers refused to act against the cathars. The alternative found by the pontiff was to ride a real task force: He ordered the clerigos to unite themselves with the Dominican preachers to jointly intensify the battle for faith in the Languedoc. Catholic priests mingled themselves with the Perfect on the streets, but little seemed to change. Until a crime sealed the destiny of the cathars. In 1208, the papal legate (maximum figure of the church hierarchy in the region, direct representative of the Pope) Pedro de Castelnau was killed by some habitants of Toulouse. Soon the news went out that the killers were allegedly cathars. Inocencio III had then the chance that he needed. On March 10, organized a crusade led by Arnoldo Amaury and by Bishop Folquet de Marseille. On the battlefield, the command was of Simon de Montfort, at the head of an army of 10 thousand men. Besides the cathars, the target of the crusade were the main nobles who gave protection to them: the Earl Raimundo VI of Toulouse and the Viscount Raimundo Rogério de Trencavel. The first major attack in Beziers, surprised by the intense and indiscriminate violence. Cathars and catholics, Perfect and priests, does not matter: all were massacred by the crusaders. "The crusaders showed no mercy. Women and children piled up themselves in the St. Mary Magdalene Church in uptown" writes Canadian historian Stephen O'Shea in The Heresy of the Cathars. "They should have been around a 4

5 thousand, a calculation based on the capacity of the church. Does not matter the number, the church was crowded with terrified catholics and cathars when the crusaders brought down the gates and massacred all who were there," he adds. In 1840, during a renovation of the temple, several human bones were discovered under the floor. It is estimated that in Beziers, no fewer than 20 thousand people were killed - almost the entire population of the city. After that, the crusaders destroyed Carcassonne, Bram, Minerve, Termes and Lavaur, ignoring any surrender attempts. As a reward for the extermination of heretics, the crusaders won forgiveness for their sins - and they could share with one another the riches and lands of Languedoc. The bloodshed only stopped in 1229, when it was signed the peace treaty of Meaux-Paris, between Raimundo VII of Toulouse and King Louis IX of France. The final fire Inocêncio III died without having been able to extinguish the catharism. The task fell to his successor, Gregorio IX, who had taken over in With the situation apparently controlled in military terms, the pope had an idea that would be decisive for the history of the following centuries. In 1231, through Excommunicamus papal bull, created the Holy Inquisition. It is no exaggeration to say that the hunting against the cathars was the major reason for the novelty. After all, after years of persecution, they had changed their ways of act. Now the Perfect mingled themselves with the people, without using the traditional black vesture. To facilitate the identification of the cathars, the Inquisition was using sophisticated methods - and sordid - of interrogation and investigation. The last military action against the cathars was the siege of Montsegur in At that time, the Inquisition had already proven its effectiveness to selectively eliminate heretics. After convictions in inquisitorial courts, the Church used the "purifying fire": according to the official discourse, the death in the fire would be the only way to save the souls of the cathars. Cornered, the cathars were placed before the following choice: deny their faith or face the fire. One way or another, the religion was being wiped out. In 1321, was executed the last known cathar priest, Guillaume Bélibaste, who had taken refuge in western of Spain. About a century later, no longer we heard to talk of the catharism followers. Ended this way the trajectory of the protesters that with character of humility and simplicity of methods, had earned the respect of the people - in the same way that the early christians had done, 12 centuries before, in Palestine. Hunter of cathars Simon de Montfort eventually killed by a female trim. Before being invited to command the troops of Albigense Crusade, Simão de Montfort, born around 1160, had already soiled their hands with blood in the church name. He had participated of the failed Fourth Crusade, between 1202 and The movement had been summoned to expel Muslims from the Holy Land, but ended up diverting a lot of the objective. One of the culprits was himself Simão de Montfort, who along the way decided with his men to plunder the city of Zara (today Zadar, in Croatia), contrary to the provisions of Pope Inocêncio III of that no christian would be attacked during the campaign - the Fourth Crusade, in fact, would end up even worse, with the plunder of Constantinopla in Years later, during the Albigense Crusade, Montfort has reinforced his reputation of uncompromising and ruthless leader. Glorified as a hero of the 5

6 catholic faith by various chroniclers, he was directly responsible for the deaths of thousands of people - as he rarely gave orders to spare someone. In 1209, Montfort became Viscount of Beziers and Carcassonne, two locations that their troops had devastated. Leading a massacre after another, he soon became the absolute lord of the Languedoc region. Montfort fought for the expansion of his domains until death, in 1218, during a siege to the city of Toulouse. According to some reports, he was hit by a stone thrown by a catapult of the female trim from the cathar resistance - appropriate destination for someone who was known to be "steady as a rock". Assorted heresies At the time of the cathars, also catholics challenged the Church. Realizing that the church was deviating from its original principles, the pope Gregório V promoted a broad change in the institution. The Gregorian Reform, which started in 1075, reinforced the compulsory celibacy in the clergy and attacked the simony (the sale of fake christian relics). While the papacy tried to restructure catholicism, however, the theological confusion was widespread. In addition to dissident christian groups - among them the cathars stood out - the Church at that time was forced to confront dissenting voices within its own community of followers and priests. In 1110, the religious Tanchelm de Antuérpia, originating from the region of Flanders (now Belgium), has led some catholics to idolize him blindly - to the point of accepting drinking the water he used to bathe. Critical of the church's direction, he proclaimed himself messiah and was arrested in the German city of Cologne. He was in prison between 1113 and 1114 and, in the following year, after being released, was killed by a catholic priest. At the same time, Pedro de Bruis, born in Provence, wanted to reform the Church by force. Despite being a priest, he shook the south of France promoting attacks against churches and burning crucifixes - as the cathars, he hated the opulence of catholic churches and despised the mystical meaning of the cross. Accused of heresy, he was executed at the bonfire in