Papers: Defining Hersey: the French Cathars and Unique Theology

Defining Heresy: the French Cathars and Unique Theology

A Paper by Shoeless Wanderer

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One of the most fascinating aspects of medieval history is the concept of heresy and how it was defined. It is traditionally agreed that heresy is preaching doctrine that stands at odds with a given institutionalised church. During the middle ages, the Roman Catholic Church wielded great power and influence, which let it deal with heresy through a number of means. The most common methods of dealing with heretics and heretical movements involved either an inquisition, excommunication, or the Church pressuring secular powers to take measures against the heretic or heretics in question. However, one notable and violent exception to the Church’s normal means of dealing with western European heretics was the crusade the Roman Catholic Church called for against a heretical sect known as the Cathars. This group of heretics were generally found in southern France and in some areas in northern Italy and professed an radically different theology from others at the time. The uniqueness of this theology demonstrates that often in the medieval world individuality was often tied to heresy and subject to violent and bloody ends.

It is extraordinarily difficult for historians to say exactly how the dualistic doctrine found in earlier heretical Christian sects such as the Manicheans and Gnostics slipped into Southern France, although “most historians accept that the dualist Bogomil Church…played a role in the formation of western Catharism.” [1] From there it is hypothesized that “transmission to the West seems to have been through Thrace and Constantinople.” [2] However the movement found its way into France, it apparently had a strong following in the twelfth century. In 1163, Saint Hildegard von Bingen wrote a vision concerning the “Cathar heretics…interpreted by her as a consequence of the release of the Devil from the bottomless pit.” [3] The vision indicates that the Cathars had been present for “twenty three years and four months,” [4] suggesting that she had known of the group in 1140. It is impossible to tell how many Cathars there really were or how wide spread their influence was this early on, but once the group became known well known in Southern France, there was immediate concern within the Catholic Church.

What made the Cathars so intensely reviled was their belief system which stood firmly against all of the teachings of the Catholic Church. In his history of the Albigensian crusade, Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay writes that the Cathars were “people [who] lost their senses and profaned the sacraments of Christ – the very essence and wisdom of God; they deserted true religion and in their folly wandered at random in pathless wastes of error, in the wilderness where there is no way.” [5] He also records that they “maintained the existence of two creators” one who was “the benign God...and…the malign God.” [6] He also informs us that the group saw this benign God as an invisible being and that the malign God was a wicked force who created visible universe. They also associated this malign God with the Old Testament and “maintained that the author of the Old Testament was a liar,” and “they also called him a murdered because he exterminated the inhabitant of Sodom and Gomorrah….and because he drowned the Pharaoh and the Egyptians.” [7] Although Peter’s information is extremely condemning of the Cathars, he provides a wealth of information concerning their belief system. The group was extremely dualistic in terms of their world view and clearly saw the material universe as a wicked entity. Their belief system shows similar themes from earlier heretical movements, such as the Gnostics of the second and third centuries of the Common Era as well as the Manicheans who were written about at length by Saint Augustine. Like the Cathars, both groups held that there were two distinct cosmic forces in the world. One of these forces was good, and the other was wicked. The wicked force was associated with the material world whereas the benevolent force was associated with higher spirituality and a concept of Heaven. Like the Gnostics and the Manicheans before then, the Cathars also rejected the Old Testament as the work of the wicked creator God, although views concerning other matters, in particular the nature of Jesus varied between various sects and individuals. Of course, the likelihood of being able to directly trace the theology of the Cathars back to the Gnostics of early Christianity is very minimal, but the similarities are certainly worth taking note of.

The world view of the Cathars lead to several distinct breaks with the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. These differences and contentions with Church doctrine lead to the Cathars being labelled as heretics. Some of these breaks were very small and mostly harmless and in a few cases, a continuation of Catholic tradition. Several Catholic inquisitors report that the group “refused to eat meat, eggs, fowls and cheese,” [8] preferring a vegetarian diet. There is no agreed upon reason for this vegetarian approach although the writings of several inquisitors offer some logical suggestions. The Church inquisitor “Sacconi says that this was because they were ‘begotten of coition.” [9] Later historians have suggested the same concept, viewing the group’s refusal to eat meat as an attempt to keep as much of the material world out of the stomachs of Cathars. Whatever the reason for vegetarianism, it was certainly not a great heresy in the eyes of the medieval world. At the very least, it was a healthier life style. Cathars, especially the prefects, also practiced fasting and chastity, which was perfectly accepted by the Roman Catholic Church. The combination of vegetarianism as well as fasting and chastity were minor offences and posed no threat to the Catholic Church. However, what did threaten the Church was the group’s rejection of the sacraments of the Church as well as their utter disregard for the Church as an institution. Peter of Les Vaux-de-Cernay records the Cathars’ views of the holy sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, a key foundation in medieval life and Church dogma.

“They ridiculed the sacraments of the church, arguing publicly that the holy water of baptism was no better than river water, that the consecrated holy body of Christ was no different from common bread…that confirmation, extreme unction and confession were trivial and empty ceremonies...holy matrimony was mere harlotry and that no one could find salvation in it by begetting sons and daughters.” [10]

The group rejected these sacraments on the ground that they were too materialistic. Because of their dualistic world view, the Cathars felt that religious devotion that placed a great emphasis on material objects, such as holy water or the bread that served as the host was equivalent to praising the lower malevolent material God rather than the benevolent one. Based on the rejection of sacraments alone, it isn’t surprising that the Catholic Church branded the Cathars heretics. This complete and utter rejection of the holy sacraments also meant a complete and utter rejection of the Church as an institution and therefore posed a threat to both the religious and secular power that the Roman Catholic Church wielded. In the view of the Church, if the Cathar movement was allowed to move unchecked, the group could very easily damage the immense amount of authority the Church had gained over the centuries and perhaps lead to its downfall.

However, it wasn’t simply the sacraments of the Church that the Cathars held great disdain and outright hatred of. According to Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, the group preached outright against the Roman Catholic Church. He writes, “They said that the Roman Church was a den of thieves, and the harlot spoken of in the Book of Revelations.” [11] Rather unsurprisingly, the Church did not appreciate this sentiment. However, calling the Church the whore of Babylon was more of a polemical attack. Instead, perhaps the final heresy that lead to the crusade against them was the fact that they

“denied the resurrection of the body…claiming that…souls are really those angelic spirits who were driven from heaven through their rebellious pride and then left their glorified bodies in the ether; and that these souls after successively inhabitants seven earthly bodies will then return to their original bodies, as though they had then completed their long penance.” [12]

Although the belief that an individual’s soul was a reincarnated fallen angel seems a bit bizarre and is more than likely a polemical attack on behalf of Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay rather than an accurate report on Cathar doctrine, the idea that Cathar theology would deny the resurrection of the body seems in line with their belief system. Returning to the body would mean more time in the material world rather than the spiritual. Since the Cathars viewed the body as a sort of material prison of the soul, returning to it after death would be absolute and utter torture.

The Roman Catholic Church used several methods to combat the thread of the Cathar sect. Usual methods were employed first, such as sending inquisitors into Southern France to observe the problem as well as sending a newly created order, the friars, into the area to wander and preach against the heretical movement, explaining why it was an abomination against the church. In addition to that, Pope Innocent the Third attempted to put pressure on Count Raymond of Toulouse, trying to get him to take action against the heretics by wiping them out. However, all accounts of the conflict record that Raymond refused to take up arms against his own people. His refusal to persecute the people living in his own lands is logical. After all, if he did so then he would decimate his own economy. According to the writings of J.C.L. Simonde de Simondi, “[Raymond] therefore refused his consent, and Peter of Castelnau, in his wrath, excommunicated him, laid his country under interdict, and wrote to the pope, to obtain the confirmation of the sentence.” [13] This caused Pope Innocent the Third to try other means. There was a series of attempts to negotiate between Innocent and Raymond until 1208 when “the legate Pierre de Castelnau was assassinated…the assassin was almost certainly a native of the country.” [14] Innocent renewed his call for a crusade against the heretics in the region and by 1209 the Albigensian crusade was in full swing with knights and nobles roaming around Southern France, exterminating Cathars. However, it was not only the Cathars that were killed. The Albigensian crusade is notorious for how much bloodshed of orthodox believers occurred. The lack of concern in differentiating between Cathar and orthodox believer is best summed up in the phrase “kill them all, god will know His own.” This phrase is attributed to a papal legate named Arnaud-Amaury who is also reported to have “said rather cheerfully that neither age nor sex was spared and that about twenty thousand were killed.” [15] His words and attitude demonstrate the overall crusader approach to the stamping out of the Cathars. Of course, this violence and merciless killing can also be attributed to the fact that “remission of sins were certain…the chances for plunder were good…the acquisition of new lands were possible...[and] a crusader had to serve only fort days to secure all the indulgences.” [16] There is therefore no doubt then that many crusaders signed up for the Albigensian crusade in order to receive papal indulgence and to gain greater land holdings in the south of France rather than out of a true desire to defend the Church from heretics. Whatever the motivation though, the Albigensian crusade was one of the most violent religious massacres against fellow western Europeans in the medieval world.

The extreme and violent method of crusading in order to stamp out the heretical Cathars was, overall, a success. By 1243 most of the heretics had been utterly decimated. A few remaining Cathars fled to a Cathar stronghold in the south of France known as Montsegur. The remaining Cathars remained inside the fortress at Montsegur from the summer of 1243 until March of 1244 after coming under siege by the Crusaders. Inside the fortress “there were over four hundred residents” [17] who remained there until the bitter end. By the first of March in 1244 negations were under way for the surrender of the fort. The two parties agreed that unless the inhabitants claimed to be a part of the heretical movement they would be “subject to light penances only, provided that they abjured their heretical beliefs and made confession before the inquisitors. Those who did not recant would be burnt at the stake.” [18] While some believers did chose to agree to these terms, others did not. The prefects of the order, as well as many other believers, refused to recant their beliefs and were subsequently burned at the stake. These deaths atop Montsegur mark the end of the major crusades against the Cathars. A few scattered Cathars remained, but the group was seen as “only a nuisance” [19] rather than a major threat to papal power. After the fall of Montsegur most efforts against the Cathar heresy were concentrated in northern Italy rather than in Southern France. In addition, the use of inquisitors became the preferred tool rather then calling for another crusade similar to the one in France. Eventually the Cathars and their unique theology were wiped out all together.

The Cathars hold a special place in medieval history. They serve as the greatest example how theological differences that were nonconformist to established doctrine lead to condemnation, accusations of heresy and extreme action in order to quell the difference by the Roman Catholic Church. Their plight also demonstrates how much power the medieval Church wielded, encouraging all of France to take up arms against its own citizens in a bloody and violent crusade. The group continues to help historians understand how heretical sects were dealt with during the Middle Ages. They remain one of the most fascinating heretical groups to come out of the medieval world and will be studied for years and years to come.

Works Cited

Barber, Malcolm. The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages. England: Pearson Education Limited 2000.

Lambert, Macolm. The Cathars. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishers 1998.

Oldenbourge, Zoe. Massacre at Montsegur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade. Trans. Peter Green. New York: Pathenon Books 1963.

Sismondi, Simonde de: History of the Crusades Against the Albigenses in the Thirteenth Century. New York: AMS Press 1973.

Strayer, Joseph R. The Albigensian Crusades. United States: Ann Arbor Paperbacks and the University of Michigan Press: 1992.

Vaux-de-Cernay, Peter Les. The History of the Albigensian Crusade. Trans. W.A. Sibly and M.D. Sibly. United Kingdom: The Boydell Press 2000.

[1] Malcolm Barber The Cathars: Dualistic Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages 2

[2] Malcolm Barber The Cathars: Dualistic Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages 2

[5] Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay The History of the Albigensian Crusade 7

[6] Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay The History of the Albigensian Crusade 11

[7] Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay The History of the Albigensian Crusade 11

[8] Malcolm Barber The Cathars: Dualistic Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages 95

[9] Malcolm Barber The Cathars: Dualistic Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages 95

[10] Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay The History of the Albigensian Crusade 12

[11] Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay The History of the Albigensian Crusade 12

[12] Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay The History of the Albigensian Crusade 12

[13] J.C.L. Simonde de Simondi History of the Crusades Against the Albigenses, in the Thirteenth Century 17

[14] Joseph R. Strayer The Albigensian Crusades 51

[15] Joseph R. Strayer The Albigensian Crusades 62

[16] Joseph R. Strayer The Albigensian Crusades 53

[19] Joseph R. Strayer The Albigensian Crusades 158