Albigensian Crusade

thumb| Slay them all; the Lord will know his own. The Albigensian Crusade (French: Croisade des albigeois), also known as the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229), was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect. It resulted in the significant reduction of practicing Cathars and a realignment of the County of Toulouse with the French crown. The distinct regional culture of Languedoc was also diminished. Some historians consider the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars an act of genocide. Quotes Their only difficulty was how to distinguish the heretics from the orthodox: "Slay them all," said the abbot of Citeaux; "the Lord will know his own." Arnaud Amalric, as quoted in Caesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogus miraculorum, bk. v, ch. 21. . . . . Caedite eos; novi enim Dominus qui sunt ejus. Reported in Jules Michelet, History of France, tr. G. H. Smith (New York, 1882), vol. i, p. 280 The inhabitants [of Béziers] withdrew, as many as could, men as well as women, into the great church of St. Nazaire, the priests of which had the bell tolled until the butchery was completed. Neither tolling of bells, nor priest in his sacerdotal vestments, nor clergyman, could prevent the whole of them being put to the sword. Not so much as one could escape. These murders and butcheries were the greatest pity that ever has been seen and heard. The town was given up to pillage, and fire was set to it in every quarter, so that it was all laid waste and in ruins, just as it is seen at the present day, and not a living thing remained in it. It was a cruel vengeance, seeing that the count was not a heretic, nor belonged to the sect. There were present at this scene of destruction the duke of Burgundy, the count of St. Pol, the count Peter of Auxerre, the count of Geneva, called Gui-le-Comte, and the lord of Anduze, called Pierre Vermont, with Provençals, Germans, and Lombards, and men of every nation who had come, to the number, it is said, of more than three hundred thousand, for the sake of pardon. Anonymous, Histoire de la guerre des Albigeois, written in Languedocian, in Martin Bouquet, ed., Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France (Paris, 1880), vol. xix, p. 123. Reported in Michelet, History of France (1882), vol. i, p. 280 External links Category:History of France Category:Genocides