Changes

From that point, events move rapidly.  

From that point, events move rapidly.  

Within a few decades, Southern France in particular develops into a Cathar bulwark. The Cathars have the sympathy of the population and the local nobility, while the [[Roman Catholic Church]] has little influence on them.

The church’s response comes in three increasingly harsh phases:<br>

2. The [[inquisition]], established in 1184. <br>

3. The crusade, in particular the ‘''Crusade against the Albigensians''’ in 1204.  

The Cathar priests had been successful because they led pious and ascetic lives in imitation of the apostles, in apparent contrast to the general Catholic clergy, although the Catholic clergy included many pious members who practiced personal poverty and disciplines of ascetic self-denial. So beginning in 1178, Rome sent [[Dominican]] [[monk]]s already practicing the same ascetic discipline, who tried with little success to convert the Cathars to Catholicism.

The Cathar priests had been successful because they led pious and ascetic lives in imitation of the apostles, in apparent contrast to the general Catholic clergy, whom they accused of being [[hypocrites]], although the Catholic clergy included many pious members who practiced visibly obvious personal poverty and disciplines of ascetic self-denial and prayer according to the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, such as the communities of desert hermits (the beginnings of [[monasticism]]), and later the [[Saint Augustine|Augustinian]]s, [[St. Benedict|Benedictine]]s, [[Camaldolese]], Carmelites, [[Carthusian Order|Carthusians]], the monastery at Cluny, [[Dominican]]s, [[Franciscan]]s, [[Knights Hospitaller|Hospitallers]]. So beginning in 1178, Rome sent Dominican [[monk]]s already practicing the same ascetic discipline, who tried with little success to convert the Cathars to Catholicism.

The inquisition was a church court that was intended to protect those accused of heresy against the overly eager harsh methods of secular princes and governors who cared little about the truthfulness of the accusation and more about readily seizing the property and wealth of the accused, who included political rivals and potential insurgents protesting against governmental [[corruption]]. The inquisitional courts interrogated those suspected of Cathar sympathies, and the Cathar faithful and priests, in a brutal fashion. When they were found innocent, they were released. When they renounced their heretical beliefs, they were sentenced to do penance in a ''penetentiary'', sometimes for years, and afterward restored to the Church. When they were found to be guilty and unrepentant, they were remanded to the secular authority as incorrigible. Their property was declared forfeit, and they were forced under torture to betray others. The ''perfecti'' ("Perfect Ones") and other intransigent Cathars died at the stake.

2. The inquisition, established in 1184. The inquisition was a church court that interrogated those suspected of Cathar sympathies, and the Cathar faithful and priests, in a brutal fashion. Their property was declared forfeit, and they were forced under torture to betray others. The perfecti and other intransigent Cathars died at the stake.

3. The crusade: Finally the church turned to its ultimate weapon, launching a crusade against the Cathars in Southern France from 1204. Pope Innocent III announced the ‘Crusade against the Albigensians’ (= Cathars) officially in 1208. Thus there was a domestic crusade in Europe, between the fourth and fifth crusades against the Saracens . The Cathars were often persecuted in horrifying ways. The situation reached its nadir with the conquest of the fortress of Montségur in 1244, when 205 Cathar priests (parfaits or perfecti) died at the stake. The Cathars retreated into the Pyrenees. However the last Cathars, a group in the caves of Lombrive, were not eliminated until 1330, when the only access to the caves was bricked over.

1300 - 14th century

1300 - 14th century

1400 - 15th century

1400 - 15th century