All that remains of the Cathar fortress of Montségur, Languedoc-Roussillon, southwest France
The Cathars were a religious group who appeared in Europe in the eleventh century. Their origins are something of a mystery. Roman Catholics still refer to Cathar belief as "the Great Heresy" though the official Catholic position is that Catharism is not Christian at all.
The religion flourished in an area of southwest France known as Languedoc.
As Dualists, Cathars believed in two principals, a good god and his evil adversary (much like God and Satan of mainstream Christianity). The good principal had created everything immaterial (good, permanent, immutable) while the bad principal had created everything material (bad, temporary, perishable). Cathars called themselves simply Christians. The Catholic Church called them Albigensians, or less frequently Cathars.
Cathars maintained a church hierarchy, but rejected any idea of priesthood or the use of church buildings. They divided into ordinary believers and an inner elect of parfaits (men) and parfaites (women) who led ascetic lives yet still worked for their living - generally in itinerant manual trades like weaving. Cathars believed in reincarnation and refused to eat meat or other animal products. They were strict about biblical injunctions - notably those about living in poverty, not telling lies and not killing. They largely regarded men and women as equals, and had no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. In some respects the Cathar and Catholic Churches were polar opposites. For example the Cathar church taught that all non-procreative sex was better than any procreative sex. The Catholic Church taught - as it still teaches - exactly the opposite.
In cultured and tolerant Languedoc the Cathar religion took root. By the early thirteenth century it was probably the majority religion in the area.
Catharism with its ideas of equality was nevertheless supported or tolerated by the nobility as well as the common people. This was yet another annoyance to the Roman church which considered the feudal system to be divinely ordained. In open debates with leading Catholic theologians Cathars seem to have come out on top. This was embarrassing for the Roman Church, not least because they had fielded the best professional preachers against what they saw as a collection of uneducated weavers and other manual workers. Worse, the Catholic Church was being held up to public ridicule. Some of the richest men in Christendom, bejewelled, vested in finery yet preaching poverty, provided an irresistible target in the Languedoc. Worse still, Cathars declined to pay tithes to the Catholic Church.
Catholics said Cathars belonged to the "Synagogue of Satan". The Catholic side created some striking propaganda. When the propaganda proved unsuccessful, there was only one option left - a crusade - the Albigensian Crusade. Pope Innocent III appointed a series of military leaders to head his Holy Army. The first was a Cistercian abbot, Arnaud Amalric, now best remembered for his command at Béziers: "Kill them all. God will know his own".
From 1208, a war of terror was waged against the population of the Languedoc and their rulers. During this period an estimated half-million Languedoc men, women and children were massacred, Catholics as well as Cathars. The Counts of Toulouse and their allies were dispossessed and their lands annexed to France. Within a few years the first papal Inquisition was established to wipe out the last vestiges of resistance.
Persecutions of Languedoc Jews and other minorities were initiated; the culture of the troubadours was lost as their cultured patrons were reduced to wandering refugees. Lay learning was discouraged and the reading of the bible became a capital crime. The Languedoc started its long economic decline to become the poorest region in France.
Catharism is often said to have been completely eradicated soon after the end of the fourteenth century. Yet there are a few vestiges of it left even today, such as the famous Cathar castles, including the spectacular fortress of Carcassonne and the hilltop redoubt of Montségur, above. There are even Cathars alive today, or at least people claiming to be modern Cathars. There is an increasing community of historians and other academics engaged in Cathar studies. Interestingly, to date, the deeper scholars have dug, the more they have vindicated Cathar claims to represent a survival of an important Gnostic strand of the earliest Christian Church.
Arguably just as interesting, Protestant ideas share much in common with those of the Cathars, and there is some reason to believe that early Protestant reformers were aware of the Cathar tradition. --- adapted from www.cathar.info.
160623 121
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All images are the property of the photographer and may not be reproduced, copied, downloaded, transmitted or used in any way without the written permission of the photographer, who can be contacted by registering with flickr and using flickrmail.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All that remains of the Cathar fortress of Montségur, Languedoc-Roussillon, southwest France
The Cathars were a religious group who appeared in Europe in the eleventh century. Their origins are something of a mystery. Roman Catholics still refer to Cathar belief as "the Great Heresy" though the official Catholic position is that Catharism is not Christian at all.
The religion flourished in an area of southwest France known as Languedoc.
As Dualists, Cathars believed in two principals, a good god and his evil adversary (much like God and Satan of mainstream Christianity). The good principal had created everything immaterial (good, permanent, immutable) while the bad principal had created everything material (bad, temporary, perishable). Cathars called themselves simply Christians. The Catholic Church called them Albigensians, or less frequently Cathars.
Cathars maintained a church hierarchy, but rejected any idea of priesthood or the use of church buildings. They divided into ordinary believers and an inner elect of parfaits (men) and parfaites (women) who led ascetic lives yet still worked for their living - generally in itinerant manual trades like weaving. Cathars believed in reincarnation and refused to eat meat or other animal products. They were strict about biblical injunctions - notably those about living in poverty, not telling lies and not killing. They largely regarded men and women as equals, and had no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. In some respects the Cathar and Catholic Churches were polar opposites. For example the Cathar church taught that all non-procreative sex was better than any procreative sex. The Catholic Church taught - as it still teaches - exactly the opposite.
In cultured and tolerant Languedoc the Cathar religion took root. By the early thirteenth century it was probably the majority religion in the area.
Catharism with its ideas of equality was nevertheless supported or tolerated by the nobility as well as the common people. This was yet another annoyance to the Roman church which considered the feudal system to be divinely ordained. In open debates with leading Catholic theologians Cathars seem to have come out on top. This was embarrassing for the Roman Church, not least because they had fielded the best professional preachers against what they saw as a collection of uneducated weavers and other manual workers. Worse, the Catholic Church was being held up to public ridicule. Some of the richest men in Christendom, bejewelled, vested in finery yet preaching poverty, provided an irresistible target in the Languedoc. Worse still, Cathars declined to pay tithes to the Catholic Church.
Catholics said Cathars belonged to the "Synagogue of Satan". The Catholic side created some striking propaganda. When the propaganda proved unsuccessful, there was only one option left - a crusade - the Albigensian Crusade. Pope Innocent III appointed a series of military leaders to head his Holy Army. The first was a Cistercian abbot, Arnaud Amalric, now best remembered for his command at Béziers: "Kill them all. God will know his own".
From 1208, a war of terror was waged against the population of the Languedoc and their rulers. During this period an estimated half-million Languedoc men, women and children were massacred, Catholics as well as Cathars. The Counts of Toulouse and their allies were dispossessed and their lands annexed to France. Within a few years the first papal Inquisition was established to wipe out the last vestiges of resistance.
Persecutions of Languedoc Jews and other minorities were initiated; the culture of the troubadours was lost as their cultured patrons were reduced to wandering refugees. Lay learning was discouraged and the reading of the bible became a capital crime. The Languedoc started its long economic decline to become the poorest region in France.
Catharism is often said to have been completely eradicated soon after the end of the fourteenth century. Yet there are a few vestiges of it left even today, such as the famous Cathar castles, including the spectacular fortress of Carcassonne and the hilltop redoubt of Montségur, above. There are even Cathars alive today, or at least people claiming to be modern Cathars. There is an increasing community of historians and other academics engaged in Cathar studies. Interestingly, to date, the deeper scholars have dug, the more they have vindicated Cathar claims to represent a survival of an important Gnostic strand of the earliest Christian Church.
Arguably just as interesting, Protestant ideas share much in common with those of the Cathars, and there is some reason to believe that early Protestant reformers were aware of the Cathar tradition. --- adapted from www.cathar.info.
160623 121
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All images are the property of the photographer and may not be reproduced, copied, downloaded, transmitted or used in any way without the written permission of the photographer, who can be contacted by registering with flickr and using flickrmail.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------