The Cathars

Battle of Muret, 1213
from a French manuscript

Several years ago I became interested in the Cathars. Through some of my research, I discovered their story. I wrote a research paper about them and submitted it as an entry in the Ice Dragon Pentathlon. In 2013, I submitted an abbreviated version of that paper to the Kingdom newsletter, the Æstel. It was published in the June and July editions under the title "The Cathars- History and Belief, Myths and Legends." It is too long to post it its entirety on this blog, but can be accessed through the SCA newsletters website here.

In 2014, I taught a class at the Pennsic War on this subject. This is the class description I submitted for the Pennsic booklet:

"The subject of numerous popular fiction novels and conspiracy theories, the Cathars were a religious sect from the medieval period. Declared heretics, they were the subject of intense persecution by the Roman Catholic Church. This class will examine such questions as: Who were the Cathars and what did they believe? What impact did they have on history?"

What follows is the class outline and source list for those who may be interested in further information:

Introduction

What do most people know about them?

Many people have no or little knowledge of the Cathars.
Those who do, learned about them from books such as Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln’s Holy Blood, Holy Grail, or fiction such as Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth, or Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
People who are knowledgeable of history, may known them because of the Crusade against them.

What were they called?

Albigenes, and the Albigensian Crusade
Cathar -"pure ones"
Cathar - "cat worshippers"
Good Christians, Good men

Origins?

Paulicians
Bogomills
 Started in Italy and spread to Germany?
Early history is shrouded, but persecution comes from the church's records
After WWII, some records have been found and released.

The Cathar history in France

As early as 1022 - Orleans. - 13 heretics burned
By 1163 - well established in France, esp. in the Languedoc
 1065 - Attracted attention of the church; churchmen are sent to debate and investigate
It was discovered they would not swear oaths - but they hid their beliefs carefully
May 1167 - meeting of Cathars at St Felix where they organized their faith
People of the area accepted and aided them, many converted

On the left, the Pope excommunicating the Cathars (Albigensians);
on the right, the Albigensian Crusade is launched. (Royal 16 G VI, f 374v)

Beliefs
Most writings destroyed.; what we know is from church records, hearings, etc.
Church called them Manchieans early on
Definitely Christian - identified themselves as Good Christians; most likely Gnostic Christian
Lord's Prayer was important.  Rejected Old Testament, valued Gospel of John
Which one - Revelation by John, or Secret Book of John a - copy found in the Nag Hamadi Library
Did not follow the Ten Commandments
Rejected the God of the Old Testament - identified him as Evil - he who imprisoned the spirit in flesh (a very Gnostic teaching)
Reliance on gaining knowledge to be reunited with the realm of pure spirit.
Did not follow church laws on eating, sex, etc.  - instead Hell is here, with endless stream of reincarnations.; we must break this cycle.
Dualists - believed in light and dark, etc.
Believed Christ was a messenger, not a savior
Did not revere the cross or relics - all are matter, the realm of the Demiurge
Rejected the ceremonies of the church, including Eucharist
Only practiced the Conslamentum - the baptism of the spirit by laying on hands.
Upon becoming Perfecti- they lived an ascetic life - ate no meat, eggs, cheese; drank water and ate vegetables and fish.  Did not swear, kill, ever go alone, ever sleep naked, ever abandon their faith, even under threat of pain or death, lived an austere life, teaching and helping others.
Followers were Credentes who could take baptism later in life; until then not required to live by strict rules.
Women were treated as equals; they preached and taught, and gave council

Why were they declared heretics?

Rejected Christ as the redeemer, as well as the Old Testament and many parts of the New.
Rejected the Church and its Hierarchy.
Believed they could have a relationship with God without the Church

What were the events of the Crusade Against Them?

1170 - Pope Alexander III declared them anathema (burnable)
1198 - Pope Innocent III approved debates; by1204 - started to encourage persecution.
1207 - debates ended. Count of Toulouse, Raymond, ordered to hunt them down - he refused
1208 - Pope called for a crusade and by 1209, the army entered the Languedoc

Expulsion of the Albigensians from Carcassone in 1209
(Cotton Nero E II, pt 2, f20v, Grandes Chroniques de France, c. 1415)

Beziers attacked---15-20 thousand killed. "Kill them All, God will know his own"
Several other towns attacked
Bram -100 men had eyes gouged out except one to guide them; also upper lips and nose cut off. 
1210 - at Minerve, 140 Perfecti burned; they refused to recant. 
1211- Lavaur, 400 Perfecti burned
1216 - Pope died , Simon de Montfort died in 1218, as well as other persecutors soon later, so did several strong supporters of the Cathars.
Things eased up and by 1226 the Perfecti came out of hiding and reorganized
1227. -  a new Pope , Gregory IX, took up the crusade against them again
1233 - Dominicans set up to conduct inquisitions
1242 - The people struck back and killed 2 inquistioners and their retainers.  Attackers had ridden out from Montsegur, the last stronghold of the Cathars
1243 - Montsegur sieged and after ten months surrendered; 225 burned.
Efforts continue to find remaining, 1252 - torture is authorized.
1305 and 1309  - William and Peter Autier found and killed
1321- William Belbaste  thought to be the last Cathar is killed

Painting by Pedro Berruguete,
from the 1400s,
depicting St Dominic burning Cathar books.

Are there remnants of the Cathars?

Some could have been hiding in Italy and Germany
Those in Bulgaria were thought to be absorbed by the Muslims faith
Those in Germany may have been absorbed into, or evolved into the Waldesians and Moravians
Later in the US - New Born, Society of the Woman in the Wilderness, Ephrata Cloisters
Did they influence the Reformation?

Myths, Legends  (I didn't get to this part, despite the fact the class was scheduled for an hour and a half,due to questions etc.)

Did they possess the Holy Grail
Or did they guard the Templar treasure, which was thought to consist of money, as well as Grail, documents of Christ's family, or secret teachings
The Troubadors and the Church of Love (Amor)
Nazi Germany
Rosicrians
Freemasons
Ancient Egypt
Atlantis and UFO's

Conclusion

Cathars are expelled and their property ransacked.

Sources
Baigent, Michael and Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. Holy Blood, Holy Grail.  NY:  Dell Publishing, 1983.
Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code.  NY: Doubleday. 2003.
“Cathar Texts and Rituals,” Jan 2013, < http://gnosis.org/library/cathtx.htm >.
"Catholic Encyclopedie:Cathari,"  Jan 2013, <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03435a.htm>.
Churton, Tobias. Gnostics Philosophy From Ancient Persia to Modern Times.  Rochester, VT:  Inner Traditions, 2005.
Churton, Tobias. The Gnostics.   NY: Barnes and Noble Books, 1987.
Coppens, Philip. "The Cathars:  the struggle for and a new church,"   Jan 2013, <http://www.philipcoppens.com/catharism.html>.
Fanthorpe, Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe.  Secrets of Rennes le Chateau. The Mysteries of Templar Treasure, Rosicrucians, and the Holy Grail.  Boston: Weiser Books, 1992.
Gardner, Lawrence.  Bloodline of the Holy Grail. The Hidden Lineage of Jesus Revealed.  NY: Barnes and Noble Books, 2003.
Good, James and William John Hinke. Minutes and Letters of the Coetus of the German Reformed Congregations in Pennsylvania, 1747-1792.  Together with Three Preliminary Reports of John Philip Boehm, 1734-1744. Phila: Reformed Church Publications Board, 1903.
Henry, William.  "Secrets of the Cathars--- Why the Dark Age Church Was Out To Destroy Them,"   Jan 2013, <http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_autor_whenry04.htm>.
Howells, Robert.  Inside the Priory of Sion.  London: Watkins Publishing, 2011.
Khoury, Louis. “The Voice of the Cathars,” Jan 2013, < http://www.tatfoundation.org/forum2001-06.htm#5>.
“The Legend of the Cathars by Judith Mann,” Jan 2013, <http://gnosistraditions.faithweb.com/mont.html.>
Markale, Jean. Montsegur and the Mystery of the Cathars. VT: Inner Traditions, 2001.
Marrs, Jim. Rule by Secrecy. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000.
McDonald, James. "Cathars and Cathar Beliefs in the Languedoc," 17 Jan 2012, Jan 2013, <http://www.cathar.info >.
Meyer, Marvin W, trans. The Secret Teachings of Jesus. Four Gnostics Gospels. NY: Vintage Books, 1984
"Montsegur and the Cathars Heresy," Jan 2013, <http://www.russianbooks.org/montsegur.htm >.
“Mystic Missal - A Door to Ways and Means on the Spiritual Path –Cathars,”  4 Jul 2004, 25 Jan 2013,  <http://www.mysticmissal.org/cathars.htm.>
O’Shea, Stephen. The Perfect Heresy. The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars.  NY: Barnes and Noble Books, 2000.
Rahn, Otto. Crusade Against the Grail, The Struggle Between the Cathars, The Templars, and the Church of Rome. VT: Inner Traditions, 2006.
Robinson, James M.  The Nag Hammadi Library. The Definitive Translation of the Gnostics Scriptures Complete in One Volume.   NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988.
Sinclair, Andrew. The Sword and The Grail.  Of the Grail and the Templars and a True Discovery of America.  NY: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1992.
Stallings, Dennis. “Catharism, Levitov, and the Voynich Manuscript,” 10 Oct 1998, Jan 2013, <http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/esp_ciencia_manuscrito04.htm# Surviving%20Cathar%20Texts%20in%20Modern%20Translations >.
Starbird, Margaret. The Woman With the Alabaster Jar. Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail. Santa Fe: Bear & Company Publishing, 1993.
Wakefield, Walter L. and Austin P. Evans, Heresies of the High Middle Ages, 2nd ed., NY: Oxford, 1991.
Wise, Michael, Martin Abegg Jr and Edward Cook. The Dead Sea Scrolls. A New Translation. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005.
Wynants, Eric.  "The Church's War on the Cathars." bibliotecapleyades.net, Jan 2013, http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_cataros_07.htm.