Heresy, Crusade, and Inquisition in Southern France, 1100-1250

This analytical narrative describes the emergence of heresy in southern France and the attempts to suppress it. Neither persuasion nor war in the form of the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) were notably successful against the Cathars or Albigensian heretics with their dualistic theology, or the Poor of Lyon, Waldensian heretics who had broken with the church in their zeal for poverty and preaching. The Inquisition in its first years after 1233 was also vigorously resisted, but failure of southern military ventures against the French crown in 1240 and 1242 gave it greater opportunity. By 1250 victory over the major heretical sects was assured.The influence of the general revival of piety in stimulating heresy is emphasized, the character of the sects and of the struggle against them are interpreted in the social and political context, the operations of the inquisitors receive detailed attention. Hitherto untranslated documents in the appendix illustrate events of the crusade, heretical beliefs and the activities of the inquisitors.An earlier volume of translations of the sources for the study of medieval heresy by Professor Wakefield and the late Professor Austin P. Evans has been much praised. Here the author has relied on numerous recent studies of the history of Languedoc and of heresy, as well as his own research. The result will interest advanced students of history and anyone interested in the dramatic story of religious tensions and conflict in the Middle Ages.