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THE
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, from the birth of Christ to the
18th Century: including the very interesting account of the
Waldenses and Albigenses
By William Jones
First Edition 1812
Fourth Edition 1819
Fifth Edition 1826
London: Printed for the Author by W. Myers, 7, Took’s Court,
Castle Street, Holborn
[Note from the publisher. This valuable out-of-print book was carefully formatted for electronic publication by Way of Life Literature. For a catalog of other books, both current and old, in print and electronic format, contact us at P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org (e-mail), http://www.wayoflife.org (web site).]
[Table of Contents for "A History of the Christian Church" by William Jones]
CHAPTER FIVE -- SECTION 6
HISTORY OF THE PERSECUTION OF THE ALBIGENSES IN FRANCE, DURING THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
The flight of Peter Waldo from Lyons, and the consequent dispersion of his flock throughout the south of France, took place in the year 1163. As nothing lay nearer the hearts of the popes, than an anxious desire to crush in its infancy every doctrine that opposed their exorbitant power, they were seldom remiss in adopting such measures as appeared to them best calculated for promoting that favorite object. Accordingly we find that in the same year (1163) a synod was convened at Tours, a city of France, at which all the bishops and priests in the country of Toulouse, were strictly enjoined "to take care, and to forbid, under pain of excommunication, every person from presuming to give reception, or the least assistance to the followers of this heresy; to have no dealings with them in buying and selling, that thus being deprived of the common necessaries of life, they might be compelled to repent of the evil of their way." And, further, that "whosoever should dare to contravene this order, should be excommunicated as a partner with them in their guilt." And, lastly, that "as many of them as could be found, should be imprisoned by the Catholic princes, and punished with the forfeiture of all their substance. [Baronius’s Annals, sect. 18. n. 4. quoted in Limborch, chapter 9.]
It is very natural to suppose that these cruel precautionary proceedings, if followed up with much rigor, must drive the friends of Waldo to seek an asylum in more hospitable climes; and of course, many of them took refuge in the valleys of Piedmont, while others proceeded to Bohemia, and not a few migrated into Spain. Hence, in the year 1194, in consequence of some of the Waldenses coming into the province of Arragon, king Ildefonsus issued a severe and bloody edict, by which "he banished them from his kingdom and all his dominions, as enemies of the cross of Christ, profaners of the Christian religion, and public enemies to himself and kingdom" [Bzovius. A. 1199. sect. 38. in Limborch, chapter 9].
Yet, notwithstanding these inhuman proceedings, both in France and Spain," so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed, "that in the year 1200, both the city of Toulouse, and eighteen other principal towns in Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphine, were filled with Waldenses and Albigenses. This, no doubt, was owing, under God, to the protection that was afforded them by the Counts of Toulouse and Foix, the Viscount of Beziers, and several other of the French nobility. It can excite no surprise, therefore, that their numbers and growing influence should spread universal alarm at Rome, and that the most spirited exertions should be determined on for subduing them.
The first measures resorted to were the issuing of papal canons and sentences of excommunication. Not only was the whole sect anathematized, but also every one who should receive them into their houses, and protect them, or hold any intercourse with them. The archbishops and bishops of Guienne and other provinces of France, as well as the clergy throughout their different dioceses, were enjoined to banish the Waldenses, Puritans, and Paterines from their territories; to mark them, and take care that they should neither enjoy Christian privileges while living, nor burial when dead. Kings, princes, and magistrates, were called upon to support and assist the Catholic clergy with the power of the sword; to confiscate the property, and raze to the foundation the houses of these heretics, and of all that countenanced them. [Rankin’s Hist. of France, volume 3, and Limborch’s History of the Inquisition, chapter 9.]
To give efficacy to these measures, pope Innocent III sent two of his legates into France, viz. the famous REINERIUS, (whom we have already had frequent occasion to mention) and GUIDO, the founder of the order of Hospitallers, to stimulate the clergy to greater diligence, to watch the conduct of the nobles, and on the detection of any of the heretics, to demand the most summary proceedings against them--enjoining his legates to transmit him by messenger or letter, the fullest information they could procure; that thus, being more particularly informed, he might the better know how to proceed against them.
Our learned countryman, Archbishop Usher, to whom we are under great obligations for the pains he took to explore the affairs of this dark period, and to illustrate the history of the Waldensian churches, gives us a very amusing account of the strain of preaching which prevailed throughout those Catholic countries at that period. The preachers had one favorite text, viz. Psalm 94:16. "Who will rise up for me against the evil doers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" and it is probable that the sermon was as uniform as the text; for we are told they generally concluded thus: "You see, most dear brethren, how great the wickedness of the heretics is, and how much mischief they do in the world. You see also, how tenderly, and by how many pious methods the church labors to reclaim them. But with them they all prove ineffectual, and they fly to the secular power for their defense. Therefore our holy mother, the church, though with reluctance and grief, calls together against them the Christian army. If then you have any zeal for the faith; if you are touched with any concern for the honor of God; if you would reap the benefit of this great indulgence, come and receive the sign of the cross, and join yourselves to the army of the crucified Savior." As the country of Toulouse was the principal place of rendezvous for the Albigenses, and as they abounded there in immense numbers, the pope evinced the utmost solicitude to prevail upon Count Raymond to expel them from his dominions. But all his entreaties to induce the latter, either to banish so large a number of his peaceable subjects, or even to persecute them, proving fruitless, he ordered him to be excommunicated as a favorer of heretics. He sent his legate with letters to many of the prelates, commanding them to make inquisition against the heretical Albigenses in France, to destroy them and convert their protectors. He also wrote to Philip, king of France, reminding him that it was his duty to take arms against those heretics, and to use all his power to suppress them, that by thus laboring to stem the progress of heresy, he might purge himself from all suspicion of being tainted therewith in his own person. Twelve abbots of the Cistercian order, accompanied by the pope’s legate, went preaching the cross against the Albigenses, and promising, by the authority of his holiness, a plenary remission of their sins, to all who took on them the crusade. The famous, or, more properly speaking, the infamous DOMINIC, the founder of the Inquisition, joined himself to this association, and, while engaged on this murderous expedition, he is said to have digested the plan of that iniquitous court.
The efforts of Reinerius and his associates, not answering the sanguine expectations of the pope, and the scheme of Dominic for establishing the Inquisition being communicated to him, the latter, in the year 1216, transmitted his letters patent, creating Dominic inquisitor general, which was confirmed by the council of Lateran in the same year. Having received these letters, and being thus armed with authority, Dominic, on a certain day, in the midst of a large concourse of people in the church of St. Prullian, announced, in one of his sermons, that "he was raised by the pope to a new office; adding, that he was resolved to defend, with his utmost rigor, the doctrines of the faith; and that if the spiritual and ecclesiastical arms were not sufficient for this end, it was his fixed determination to call in the aid of the civil magistrate, to excite and compel the Catholic princes to take arms against heretics, that the very memory of them might be entirely destroyed."
A nobleman in the vicinity of Narbonne, having about this time been converted to the Catholic faith, the inquisitors obtained possession of his house or castle, where they fixed their court, and commenced the operations of that iniquitous system. On the one hand, they offered to their converts the remission of all their sins, plenary indulgences, and various other privileges; and on the other, the obstinate were branded, imprisoned, and tortured. Multitudes were allured by these deceitful pretexts to enroll themselves under the banners of St. Dominic, vainly imagining, that they could thus make compensation for their crimes. Dominic framed a code of regulations for the preservation and proper government of this crusading fraternity. One was, that such as entered upon this warfare should take an oath, that they would endeavor with all their might to recover, defend, and protect the rights of the church, against all who should presume to usurp them; and that they would expose themselves and their estates in defense of the ecclesiastical immunities, by taking up arms as often as they should be called upon to do it, by the prelate of the war,--an honor at that time vested in Dominic himself, and subsequently in the masters general of the Dominican order. If any of them were married, an oath was required from their wives, that they would not persuade their husbands to forsake the war for the support of the ecclesiastical privileges, promising them eternal life as the reward of so pious a service. To distinguish them from laics, a peculiar dress was devised for both the men and their wives, consisting of white and black colors, but of different formation. No one was to be admitted to this sacred warfare, without a previous rigorous examination of his life, manners, and faith--whether he had paid his debts, forgiven his enemies, and made his will, that he might be the more ready for the battle, and also whether he had obtained leave from his will before a notary and proper witnesses. The wives of those that were slain in the expedition promised that they would never marry again. All this, no doubt, was highly ridiculous; but it imposed an air of sacredness upon the thing which took with the vulgar, and rendered the crusade so popular, that numbers entered into it with avidity, hoping by the slaughter of heretics, and the plunder of their goods, to ensure their admission into heaven. [Limborch’s Inquisition, chapter 11.]
With all this, however, the cause proceeded but slowly. The pope was dissatisfied. The measures of Dominic and his adherents seemed to him but as the sprinkling of water, which only aggravated and extended the flame of heresy. He, therefore, denounced open and more violent war; invited the catholic princes and nobles to take up arms, and commissioned his ministers to preach the same indulgences, and to offer terms of every kind, as advantageous as those that were granted when levies were made for crusading to Asia. [See volume 1, chapter 4, sect. 4.]
The court of Rome, however, with a view to preserve at least the semblance of decency, thought it expedient, before proceeding to compulsory measures with the Albigenses, to try to reclaim them to the church by the more gentle and reasonable methods of persuasion, and the latter formed the resolution of defending their own principles. They consequently gave the bishops to understand that some of their pastors were ready to discuss the subject with them in open conference, provided the thing could be conducted with propriety. They explained their notions of propriety by proposing that there should be moderators on each side, vested with authority to prevent tumult and preserve order and regularity -- that the conference should be held in some place to which all parties concerned might, have free and safe access; and lastly, that a particular subject should be agreed upon between the disputants, which should be steadily prosecuted until it was fully discussed and determined, and that the party which could not maintain it by an appeal to the Scriptures, the only standard of faith to Christians, should own themselves vanquished. The proposal was so reasonable that it could not with decency be rejected; it was therefore accepted by the bishops and monks. The place of conference agreed upon was Montreal, near Carcassone, in the year 1206. The umpires on the Catholic side were the bishops of Villeneuse and Auxere -- and on that of the Albigenses, R. de Bot, and Anthony Riviere. On the part of the latter, several pastors were appointed to manage the debate, of whom Arnold Hot was the principal. He arrived first at the appointed place. A bishop of the name of Eusus met him on behalf of the papacy, accompanied by the renowned Dominic, two of the pope’s legates, and several other of the catholic clergy. The points which Arnold undertook to prove were, that the mass and transubstantiation are idolatrous and unscriptural--that the church of Rome is not the spouse of Christ--and that its polity is of a pernicious and wicked tendency. Arnold drew up certain propositions upon these points, which he transmitted to the bishop, who required fifteen days to answer them, which was granted. On the appointed day, the bishop appeared, and produced a large manuscript, which was read in the public assembly. Arnold requested that he might be permitted to reply by word of mouth, only entreating their patience if he took a considerable time in answering so prolix a writing, and fair promises were made him of a patient hearing. He then discoursed for the space of four days upon the subject, with such fluency and readiness, such order, perspicuity, and forcible reasoning, that a strong impression was produced on the audience. Arnold, at length, called upon his opponents to defend themselves. What they said on the occasion we are not informed, but the cause of the abrupt termination of the conference is a fact allowed on all hands, and may possibly suggest what was the real state of the controversy. For, while the pope’s legates were disputing with Arnold, the umpire of the papal party, the bishop of Villeneuse, declared that nothing could be determined, because the army of the crusaders was at hand. [Perrin’s History of the Albigenses, book 3, chapter 2.] What he asserted, alas, was but too true; the papal armies advanced, and, by fire and faggot instantly decided all the points of controversy; and if we may place any reliance upon writers of unimpeachable veracity, "the armies employed by pope Innocent III destroyed above two hundred thousand of them in the short space of a few months" [Dr. Grosvenor’s Sermon against Popery, at Salter’s Hall, 1735]. Arnold and his brethren, indeed, might have been fully assured that it never was the intention of the pope to submit to any decision of the controversy by argument, which might happen to be unfavorable to his party. The acquiescence of his holiness in the proposal to discuss the differences between the parties in a public disputation, was in all probability, a mere maneuver, intended only to amuse the Albigenses and gain time, till the armies that were preparing with a view to destroy them might be in readiness. Platina, one of their own writers, in his Life of Innocent XIII seems to insinuate as much, when he tells us, that "there was need, not only of disputations, but of arms also; to such a pitch was the heresy grown." The bull which the pope had already issued, in consequence of the death of Peter de Chatineau, had also made that sufficiently apparent. He had dispatched preachers throughout all Europe, to collect an army which should revenge the blood of that man, promising paradise, and the remission of all their sins, to those who should bear arms forty days in that holy warfare; and, after telling them that "they were not to keep faith with those who do not keep faith with God," he thus proceeds, "We exhort you, that you would endeavor to destroy the wicked heresy of the Albigenses, and do this with more rigor than you would towards the Saracens themselves; persecute them with a strong hand; deprive them of their lands and possessions; banish them and put Roman Catholics in their room" [Clarke’s Martyrology, chapter 24].
RAYMOND, the sixth count of Toulouse, in whose territories the Albigenses chiefly abounded, still humanely extended to them his protection and patronage. Pope Innocent, by a bull, had excommunicated him as a favorer of heretics -- he was prohibited the communion of holy things and of the faithful--all his subjects were absolved from their oath of allegiance, and power was dispensed to any catholic man not only to act against his person, but to seize his dominions, and dispossess him of them, under the pretext that by the prudence of the one, they might be effectually purged from heresy, as they had been grievously defiled by the wickedness of the other. Yet he does not appear to have been in the least diverted from his purpose by these horrid proceedings. His character is variously represented by the friends and enemies of his party. The former describe him, not only as generous and brave, but as pious and virtuous; while the latter revile him as a hypocrite. The true account of him seems to be, that whether he had adopted the sentiments of the Albigenses or not, he humanely sympathized with them--that he understood the spirit of true religion to be a spirit of tolerance; that he studied to promote the real interests of his country; and with these views, at least, that he was desirous to protect all such as were useful members of society, whatever might be their peculiar religious tenets. Under such patronage their numbers rapidly increased, but it proportionally inflamed the indignation of the fierce and bloody inquisitors. [Rankin’s History of France, volume 3.]
While affairs remained in this critical posture, it unfortunately happened that Peter de Chatineau, one of the inquisitors, was assassinated, and Count Raymond was suspected of being, at least, privy to the murder. The catholics loudly inveighed against the crime as of the deepest eye. The Count protested his innocence, affirming that he was in no respect guilty of the death of that friar--that he had been killed at St. Giles’s by a certain gentleman whom Peter had pursued, and who immediately afterwards retired to his friends at Beaucaire--that he had done every thing in his power to apprehend the manslayer; and in fine, that even were it true that he had been in any respect accessory to the murder, the ordinary course of justice ought to be pursued, and not to revenge it upon his subjects who were innocent. To all this the catholic party were deaf; Raymond was loaded with infamy, and with the highest censures of the church; and, in a little time, an expedition of more than one hundred thousand cross-bearers (crusaders) was actually equipped against him. Raymond was justly alarmed--he offered to submit, promised obedience, and as a proof of his sincerity, delivered up into the hands of the pope seven fortified places in Provence. But that was not a sufficient sacrifice to ecclesiastical pride and malignity. He was required to present himself before the gates of the church of St. Agde, in the town of that name. Upwards of twenty bishops and archbishops were present, convened for the purpose of receiving his submission. He was required to swear upon the holy solemnities of the eucharist and the relics of the saints, which were exposed with great reverence before the gates of the church, and held by several prelates, that he would obey the commands of the holy Roman church. When he had thus bound himself by an oath, the legate ordered one of the sacred vestments to be thrown over his neck, and, drawing him by means of it, he was brought into the church, where after scourging him with a whip, he was absolved. It is added, "that he was so grievously torn by the stripes in scourging, that he was unable to go out by the way in which he had entered the church, but was forced to pass quite naked as he was, through the lower gate. He was also compelled to undergo the same degrading process at the sepulcher of St. Peter the martyr, at New Castres" [Limborch’s Inquisition, chapter 11].
The immense array of crusaders, however, being now in motion, it was not to be reduced to a state of inactivity because the Earl of Toulouse had effected his reconciliation with the see of Rome. On the contrary, they everywhere attacked the Albigenses, took possession of the cities in which they were known to be, filled the streets with slaughter and blood, and committed to the flames numbers whom they had taken prisoners. Raymond had a nephew of the name of Roger, who was more bold and determined than his uncle. He was at the head of seven fiefs, or baronies, dependent, however, upon the Earl of Toulouse, and he evinced no disposition to yield all implicit obedience to the orders of Rome, nor abandon the people who had put themselves under his protection. Among the humiliating stipulations imposed upon the Earl of Toulouse, the one most repugnant to his feelings was, that he himself should lead the crusading army against Beziers, the capital of his own nephew’s dominions; which was in effect now to make him the instrument of the destruction of the Albigenses, as he had hitherto been their protector, and indeed the destruction of his nephew also. This has ever been the detestable policy of the court of Rome, never to be satisfied with reasonable offers of submission, without degrading the wretched suppliant, even in his own eyes. The Earl continued with the army a few days and then took his leave of the legate, choosing rather to take a journey to Rome, in order to humble himself before the pope, a privilege which could not be denied him, than continue with it to be a spectator of the murder of thousands of peaceable and virtuous men, and the ruin of his own nephew.
When the army advanced towards the neighborhood of Beziers, the fate of the city was easily foreseen, and the nephew of Raymond, fully sensible that it could not be defended against an hundred thousand men, went out of the city, threw himself at the feet of the pope’s legate, and supplicated his mercy in favor of his capital, beseeching him not to involve the innocent with the guilty, which must be the case if Beziers were taken by storm--that there were many Roman Catholics in the city, who would be involved in one indiscriminate scene of ruin contrary to the intentions of the pope, whose object was understood to be, solely the punishment of the Albigenses. Numerous other topics of entreaty were urged by the young prince; but the answer of the legate to all he could plead was, that "all his apologies and excuses would avail him nothing, and that he must do the best he could for himself." Thus foiled in his object, the Earl of Beziers returned into the city, convened the inhabitants, to whom he explained the ill success that had attended his mission; and particularly, that the only condition upon which pardon would be granted by the pope’s legate was, that the Albigenses should abjure their religion, and promise to live according to the laws of the Roman church.
The catholic inhabitants of Beziers now interposed, using every entreaty with the Albigenses to comply with that stipulation, and not be the occasion of their death, since the legate was resolved to pardon none, unless they all consented to live in subjection to one rule of faith. The Albigenses replied, that they never could consent to purchase a prolongation of this perishing life at the price of renouncing their faith--that they were fully persuaded God could, if he pleased, protect and defend them:--but they were as fully persuaded, that if it were his good pleasure to be glorified by the confession of their faith, it would be an high honor conferred upon them to sacrifice their lives for righteousness’ sake--that they much preferred displeasing the pope, who could only destroy their bodies, to incurring the displeasure of God, who is able to destroy both soul and body together--that they hoped never to be ashamed of, nor forsake a faith by which they had been taught the knowledge of Christ and his righteousness, and, at the hazard of eternal death, barter it for a religion which annihilated the merits of the Savior, and rendered his righteousness of none effect. They, therefore, left it to the Catholics and the Earl of Beziers to make the best terms they could for themselves, but entreated that they would not promise anything on their behalf inconsistent with their duty as Christians.
Finding the Albigenses inflexible, the Catholic party next sent their own bishop to the legate, to entreat him not to comprehend in the punishment of the Albigenses, those that had always been constant and uniform in their adherence to the church of Rome. In this interview the bishop explained to him that he was their prelate; that he knew them well; and that as to the Albigenses, he did not think them so irrecoverable as to be past all hopes of repentance -- that, on the contrary, he trusted a becoming mildness on the part of the church, which does not delight in blood, might yet reclaim them.
The sanguinary ecclesiastic, however, was wholly deaf to the voice of humanity. Transported with rage, he gave vent to the most terrible threatening; and swore that unless all who were in the city acknowledged their guilt, and submitted to the church of Rome, they should every individual be put to the sword, without regard to religious profession, age, or sex--giving instant orders for the city to be summoned to surrender at discretion. Under these circumstances resistance was vain; the assailants were immediately in possession of it, and its inhabitants, to the number of three and twenty thousand, were indiscriminately massacred, and the city itself destroyed by fire. Caesarius informs us, that when the crusaders were about to enter the city, knowing that there were many Catholics mixed with the heretics, and hesitating how they should act in regard to the former, application was made to Arnold, the Abbe of Cisteaux, for advice, who instantly replied, "Kill them all--the Lord knoweth them that are his" [Perrin’s History of the Albigenses, book 3, chapter 4, Bzovius, A. 1209, sect. 1, and Ranaldus, A. 1209, sect. 22, in Limborch’s History of the Inquisition, volume 1, chapter 11].
The Earl of Beziers, foreseeing the ruin which threatened his capital, made his escape, and withdrew to the neighboring city of Carcassone. This place was much more strongly fortified, both by nature and art, than Beziers, and consequently more defensible. The city, or upper town, stands upon a hill, surrounded by a double wall; the lower town or borough is in the plain, about two miles distant from the city. Numbers of the Albigenses resided there, and many more fled to it for security. The young Earl, who had now been fully instructed, by the horrible proceedings at Beziers, into the motives and determination of the Catholics, resolved, as far as was practicable, to defend Carcassone. He, therefore, convened his subjects, reminded them of the treatment which the inhabitants of Beziers had received, and that they had to do with the same enemies, who had indeed changed the place of siege, but not the cruelty of their disposition, nor their wish to destroy them if they could effect it. He therefore gave it as his opinion, that it was preferable to die in defense of their city and privileges, rather than fall into the hands of such cruel and relentless enemies. That for his own part, he professed the Roman Catholic religion, but he was fully aware that the present was not a war of religion, but a system of robbery, contrived for the purpose of getting possession of the dominions of his uncle, the Earl of Raymond, and all that were related to him. He therefore urged the inhabitants to defend themselves like men, and to recollect that both their lives and the free exercise of their religion were at stake, pledging himself that he would never forsake them in so honorable a cause as that of defending themselves against their common enemies, who, under the mask of dissembled piety, were, in effect, nothing better than thieves and robbers. This manly address infused courage into the hearts of his subjects--they pledged themselves to defend their sovereign and the city of Carcassone with whatever concerned them.
In the meantime the army of the crusaders had been augmented by the arrival of fresh levies from every part of France, as well as from Italy and Germany, to upwards of three hundred thousand men, (some writers make them five hundred thousand) and had advanced to the walls of the town, where they rushed furiously upon the first rampire, filling the ditch with fascines, and making themselves sure of an easy conquest of the place. But they met with so valiant a repulse, that the ground was covered with the dead bodies of the pilgrims (as they called themselves) round about the city. The following day the legate ordered the scaling ladders to be applied, and a general assault to be made on the town, but the inhabitants made a resolute defense. They were, however, at length overpowered with numbers, and beat back from the walls, when the enemy entered and gave the inhabitants of the Borough much the same treatment they had lately done to those of Beziers, putting them all to the sword.
The city, or upper town, however, was yet secure, but the besieging army lost no time in proceeding to its reduction. The legate commanded them to play all their engines of war upon it, and to take it by assault. But he had the mortification to see his soldiers of the cross fall by thousands-- the ground covered, and the ditches filled, with the dead bodies of his pilgrims. This immense army, in a little time, began to experience the want of forage, which the soldiers were driven to the necessity of seeking about the fields--add to which, that the term of forty days, for which they had originally enlisted, and in which time they were to purchase the bliss of paradise, was now accomplished; contenting themselves therefore with that great object, they refused to enter upon any further conquest, and withdrew by thousands from the legate’s standard. The latter, alarmed at the reduction of his army, and not finding the conquest of the city so practicable as he at first apprehended, had recourse next to stratagem for effecting his purpose. Amongst those who had joined his army with fresh auxiliaries under the walls of Carcassone, was the King of Arragon, in Spain. A plot was formed between this monarch and the legate to try the effect of a negotiation with the Earl of Beziers, and the former was deputed to solicit an interview and manage the whole affair.
An interview accordingly took place, at which the King of Arragon expressed his wish to know what could induce the Earl to shut himself up in the city of Carcassone against so vast an army of the pilgrims. The latter replied, It was the justice of his cause--that he was fully persuaded the pope, under the pretext of religion, had formed the design of ruining both his uncle, the Earl of Raymond, and himself--of this he had had the most convincing proof when he undertook to intercede for his subjects, the inhabitants of Beziers. The popes legate had refused to spare such of them as were Catholics, and had even butchered the priests themselves, though clothed in their sacerdotal vestments, and though they had ranged themselves under the banner of the cross. That that horrible instance of cruelty and wickedness, added to their proceedings in the borough of Carcassone, where his unoffending subjects had been exposed to fire and sword without regard to age or sex, had taught him the folly of looking for any mercy at the hands of the legate or his army of pilgrims; that consequently he preferred to die in his own defense rather than be exposed to the mercy of so relentless and inexorable an enemy. He acknowledged to the King, that many of his subjects in the city of Carcassone professed a faith very different from that of the church of Rome, but they were persons who never did wrong or injury to anyone, and that in requital of their good services to himself, he was resolved never to desert them. He also expressed his hope that God, who is the protector and defender of the innocent, would support them against that misinformed multitude, who, under the mistaken notion of meriting heaven, had left their own houses to plunder, burn, and destroy the houses of other men, and to murder without reason, mercy, or discretion.
The King of Arragon retired from this parley, and, in an assembly, consisting of the legate, the lords and prelates, reported the particulars of what had passed between himself and the Earl of Beziers. He declared that he had found his good ally, the Earl of Beziers, extremely scandalized at their inhuman proceedings against his subjects both of Beziers and Carcassone; and that he was now fully persuaded, seeing that they had not spared the Roman Catholics, nor even the priests themselves, that it was not a religious war, as was pretended, but a system of plunder under the pretext of religion: that the Earl hoped God would be so favorable to him as to make his innocence and the justice of his cause, which was purely that of self-defense, sufficiently apparent: that it was in vain to expect them to surrender at discretion, since they had found by experience they had nothing to expect at their hands but an indiscriminate slaughter. He then apprised the pope’s legate, that it had always proved bad policy to drive an enemy to despair; wherefore if he would condescend to propose any terms of compromise that were tolerable to the Earl of Beziers and his subjects, mildness would be found a much more effectual means of reducing the Albigenses, than extreme severity; and that it should not be overlooked that the Earl of Beziers was still a young man, possessing much of the confidence of his subjects; and, consequently, had it in his power to render essential services in reducing them to the communion of the church of Rome, to which he was himself attached.
When the King of Arragon had delivered this address, he was requested by the legate to withdraw a little while, on which a consultation took place; and being again called in, he was commissioned to return to the Earl and propose to him, that, at his intercession, the legate had consented to receive him into mercy, upon the following terms: He should be permitted to come out of the city, and to bring with him eleven others, with their bag and baggage. But with regard to the rest of the inhabitants, they should not leave the city except at his discretion, of which they ought to entertain the most favorable opinion, because he was the pope’s legate. That all the inhabitants both men, women, maidens, and children, should come forth without so much as their shirts or shifts on, or the smallest covering to hide their nakedness; and that finally, the Earl of Beziers should be kept in strict custody and confinement, and that all his possessions should remain in the hands of such a successor as should be chosen for the preservation of the country.
The Spanish monarch was fully persuaded, that propositions so degrading as these, it were needless to offer to the Earl of Beziers; he, nevertheless, complied with the legate’s request, and submitted them to the Earl, who gave an immediate reply that he would never quit the city upon conditions so dishonorable and unjust, and that he was resolved to defend both himself and his subjects by every means that God had put within his power.
Finding himself thus foiled in his attempt to move the Earl of Beziers, the legate soon had recourse to a less honorable, and much more deeply laid plot. He insinuated himself into the graces of one of the officers of his army, telling him that it lay in his power to render to the church a signal instance of kindness, and that if he would undertake it, besides the rewards which he should receive in heaven, he should be amply recompensed on earth. The object was to get access to the Earl of Beziers, professing himself to be his kinsman and friend, assuring him that he had something to communicate of the last importance to his interests; and having thus far succeeded, he was to prevail upon him to accompany him to the legate, for the purpose of negotiating a peace, under a pledge that he should be safely conducted back again to the city. The officer played his part so dexterously, that the Earl imprudently consented to accompany him. At their interview, the latter submitted to the legate the propriety of exercising a little more lenity and moderation towards his subjects, as a procedure that might have the happiest tendency in reclaiming the Albigenses into the pale of the church of Rome; he also stated to him that the conditions which had been formerly proposed to him were dishonorable and shameful, and highly indecorous in those whose eyes ought to be as chaste as their thoughts: that his people would rather choose to die than submit to such disgraceful treatment. The legate replied that the inhabitants of Carcassone might exercise their own pleasure; but that it was now unnecessary for the Earl to trouble himself any further about them, as he was himself a prisoner until Carcassone was taken, and his subjects had better learnt their duty!
The Earl was not a little astonished at this information; he protested that he was betrayed, and that faith was violated: for that the gentleman, by whose entreaties he had been prevailed upon to meet the legate, had pledged himself by oaths and execrations to conduct him back in safety to Carcassone. But appeals, remonstrances, or entreaties, were of no avail: he was committed to the custody of the Duke of Burgundy, "and, having been thrown into prison, died soon after, not without exciting strong suspicions of being poisoned."
No sooner had the inhabitants of Carcassone received the intelligence of the Earl’s confinement, than they burst into tears, and were seized with such terror, that they thought of nothing but how to escape the danger they were then placed in; but blockaded as they were on all sides, and the trenches filled with men, all human probability of escape vanished from their eyes. A report, however, was circulated, that there was a vault or subterraneous passage somewhere in the city, which led to the castle of Caberet, a distance of about three leagues from Carcassone, and that if the mouth or entry thereof could be found, Providence had provided for them a way of escape. All the inhabitants of the city, except those who kept watch upon the rampires, immediately commenced the search, and success rewarded their labor. The entrance of the cavern was found, and at the beginning of the night they all began their journey through it, carrying with them only as much food as was deemed necessary to serve them for a few days. "It was a dismal and sorrowful sight," says their historian, "to witness their removal and departure, accompanied with sighs, tears, and lamentations, at the thoughts of quitting their habitations and all their worldly possessions, and betaking themselves to the uncertain event of saving themselves by flight: parents leading their children, and the more robust supporting decrepit old persons; and especially to hear the affecting lamentations of the women." They, however, arrived the following day at the castle, from whence they dispersed themselves through different parts of the country, some proceeding to Arragon, some to Catalonia, others to Toulouse and the cities belonging to their party, wherever God in his providence opened a door for their admission.
The awful silence which reigned in the solitary city excited no little surprise on the following day among the pilgrims. At first they suspected a stratagem to draw them into an ambuscade; but on mounting the walls and entering the town, they cried out, "the Albigenses are fled!" The legate issued a proclamation, that no person should seize or carry off any of the plunder--that it should all be carried to the great church of Carcassone, whence it was disposed of for the benefit of the pilgrims, and the proceeds distributed among them in rewards according to their deserts. [Perrin’s History of the Albigenses, book 3, chapter 5.]
The crusade against the Albigenses had hitherto been conducted by an ecclesiastic, the Abbe de Cisteaux; but having been prolonged beyond the period at first calculated upon, and the entire reduction of the heretics being found not quite so easy a task as was first expected, the supreme command was now vested in the hands of Simon, Earl of Montfort, a person of some military talents, but of a fierce and ungovernable temper. He was appointed governor of the whole country, both of what had been already conquered, and what should be conquered in future. This nobleman, under the mask of piety and zeal for religion, gratified a relentless and covetous disposition. He plundered, assassinated, and committed to the flames the poor Albigenses, without regard to character, sex, or age. Dazzled by his success, he set no bounds to his rapacious cruelty; and, encouraged by the papal legate, he insolently proposed that the Earl of Toulouse should absolutely surrender to him all his castles and territories as conquered by the catholic army. Raymond refused, and appealed to Philip, king of France, his lord paramount. The haughty Count, however, began to execute his threats, and laid siege to the castle of Minerba, (or Minerva) a place strongly fortified by nature, in the territory of Narbonne, on the confines of Spain. "This place (said he) is of all others the most execrable, because no mass has been sung in it for thirty years" -- a remark which gives us a striking idea of the number of the Waldenses; the very worship of popery, it seems, was expelled from the place. On the surrender of the castle, which was defended by Raymond, Earl of Termes, and compelled to capitulate for want of water, they exerted all their influence to induce him to recant his religion and turn Catholic; but finding him inflexible, they shut him up in a close prison, where he soon after died. They then seized his wife, sister, and virgin daughter, with other females of distinguished rank, all of whom they labored to convert, both by flattery and frowns, by fair speeches and cruel threats; but finding that nothing could prevail upon them to recant, they made a large fire, into which they were all thrown and consumed to ashes.
After the castle had been taken, the Earl of Montfort caused the Abbe de Vaux, a friar, to preach to the inhabitants, exhorting them to acknowledge the pope and church of Rome: but they interrupted him, exclaiming, "we will not renounce our religion; you labor to no purpose, for neither life nor death shall induce us to abandon our profession." On this the Earl and the legate commanded a hundred and eighty men and women to be committed to the flames! These went, it is said, with cheerfulness, blessing God that he was pleased to confer on them the honor of dying for his sake; at the same time warning the Earl of Montfort that he would one day pay dear for his cruelties towards them. All who witnessed their courage and constancy were astonished. [Clarke’s Martyrology, p. 110; Perrin’s History of the Albigense, p. 2, book 3, chapter 7.]
But I must not attempt to prosecute, in minute detail, the history of this religious crusade, which was carried on against the Albigenses, during almost the whole of the first thirty years of this century, and with varied success; for besides that it could administer to the reader little of either profitable instruction or edification, it would carry me far beyond the limits prescribed by my publication. The reader who has never had an opportunity of exploring the history of this period, can scarcely conceive the scenes of baseness, perfidy, barbarity, indecency, and hypocrisy, over which Pope Innocent III and his immediate successors presided. The bare reflection of three hundred thousand men, actuated by the motives of avarice and superstition, filling the country of the Albigenses with carnage and confusion, during a period of twenty years, is, in itself, sufficient to harrow up the soul; but to go into any thing like a circumstantial detail of all the multifarious atrocities which belong to it, would only be to impose upon the reader an obligation to throw aside the book, from a regard to his own feelings. I must content myself with an outline.
Having got possession of the castle of Minerva, Earl Montfort next laid siege to that of Preissan, or, as it is often called, Termes, in the district of Narbonne, a place which seemed invincible to human force; but the garrison being reduced to great distress for want of water, abandoned the place by night, and made good their retreat undiscovered by the enemy. The castle of La Vaur was next besieged, and after a siege of six months taken by assault, when all its brave defenders were put to the sword, except eighty gentlemen, whom the Earl caused to be ignominiously hanged, and Lord Almeric on a gibbet higher than the rest. The lady of Lavaur was cast alive into a pit, and there stoned to death. And with respect to the other inhabitants, it was put to their option whether they would conform to the church of Rome, or perish by the flames. They almost without exception chose the latter, and about four hundred persons thus precipitated themselves into the flames, joyfully yielding up their spirits into the hand of God. [Clarke’s Martyrology, p. 111. 402.]
The Count de Foix, who had been peculiarly interested in the defense of Preissan, was very favorably disposed towards the Albigenses, and consequently much disconcerted at the loss of the place. The Earl of Toulouse, also, began to be much alarmed at the successes of Montfort, and, apprehensive for his own safety and that of his subjects, roused many of the neighboring barons, and collected a considerable force, which he brought to the assistance of the Count de Foix. Their united exertions suddenly changed the aspect of affairs. Montfort was stripped of almost all his conquests, and a complete revolution was nearly effected; but in a general engagement, which took place in the valley of Theniere, they were defeated, and the courage of the party began again to droop.
Success raised the pride and demands of the inquisitors. Conditions were now prescribed, to which no man of spirit could agree -- "That Earl Raymond should lay down his arms, without retaining one soldier or auxiliary; that he should not only submit absolutely and for ever to the church, but that he should repair and refund whatever losses the church might have sustained by the war--that in all his territories, no one should ever eat more than two kinds of flesh--that he should expel all heretics, and their allies and abettors from his dominions--that within a year and a day he should deliver up to the Count de Montfort, every person whom he should name or require, to be punished or disposed of as the Count might think fit--that his subjects should never wear any jewels, nor fine clothes, nor caps, nor bonnets, of any other color than black--that all his fortifications should be demolished; that no relative, or friend of his, should reside in any city, but in the country only--that no new tax should be levied by him, but that every head of a family in his territories should annually pay four deniers to the pope’s legate--that the tiends should be paid over all his lands--that the papal legate should never be required to pay any toll, or other impost, while traveling through the country under his jurisdiction--that Raymond should associate himself with the knights of St. John, and go into voluntary exile as a crusader to the Holy Land, never to return without leave, and finally, that he should not have his lands restored until he had complied with all these demands."
In the year 1215, pope Innocent III convened the famous COUNCIL OF LATERAN, at which Dominic was present, and many decrees against heretics were enacted. To this council both the Earl of Toulouse and his son Raymond had recourse, and urged their plea against Montfort, who had usurped their dominions. The council, however, decreed, Earl Raymond to be for ever excluded from his dominions, which he had governed in, and ordered him to remain in some convenient place out of his dominions, with a view to his giving suitable proofs of his repentance. Four hundred marks of silver were, nevertheless, assigned him annually out of his revenues, as long as he behaved himself with an humble obedience; but his possessions were adjudged to Montfort. Upon this decree, the Earl went into Spain, and his son into Provence, where they raised auxiliary forces, and were not only enabled to continue the war against Montfort, but actually recovered some part of the Earl’s dominions, and even his capital, the city of Toulouse. Whilst Montfort was endeavoring to retake it, he was struck on the head by a stone which instantly killed him, in the year 1218, and the city was delivered from the siege.
In the course of the war the castle of Minerva having surrendered to the Catholic army, the Abbe de Cisteau, who, ever since the election of Montfort to its command, had continued the chief councilor of the crusaders, hesitated for some time, how he should dispose of the garrison and inhabitants. "He sincerely desired the death of the enemies of Jesus Christ," says the author of the history of the Albigenses, "but being a priest and a monk, he could not agree to the slaughter of the citizens, if they would be converted. Robert Mauvoisin, a zealot in the army, dissatisfied with this appearance of humanity and condescension, insisted that they had come there, not to favor heretics, but to exterminate them. In this dilemma, the blood-thirsty monk was relieved from his embarrassment, by the higher tone, not the fiercer spirit, of a third person, who exclaimed, ‘Fear not, probably not one of them will accept of the alternative!’ The event proved the correctness of his judgment; for, the piles being kindled, they mostly precipitated themselves into the flames. [Hist. Albigenses, cap. 37, in Rankin’s France, volume 3. p. 214.] Earl Raymond did not long enjoy the possession of his dominions, which he had reconquered, for he died in the year 1221, and was succeeded by his son, the young Raymond, who soon after banished the inquisition from the country of Toulouse. Pope Innocent III also died about the same time, and was succeeded by HONORIUS III who was no sooner elevated to power than he issued his denunciations against all heretics, and violators of the ecclesiastical immunity, in the following rescript, which was sent into France. "We excommunicate all heretics of both sexes, and of whatsoever sect, with their favorers, receivers, and defenders; and, moreover, all those who cause any edicts or customs, contrary to the liberty of the church, to be observed, unless they remove them from their public records in two months after the publication of this sentence. Also we excommunicate the makers and the writers of those statutes, and moreover, all governors, consuls, rulers, and counselors of places where such statutes and customs shall be published and kept, all those who shall presume to pass judgment, or to publish such judgments, as shall be made according to them."
The conduct of the young Raymond had rendered him peculiarly obnoxious to the new pontiff, who took care to inform him, that unless he returned to his duty, he should be stripped of his dominions, as his father had been; and by letters, bearing date the 8th of November, 1221, he confirmed the sentence of the legate, by which he deprived him of all his right in every country that had ever been subject to his father; and that this sentence might want nothing of its full force, he commanded the Dominicans to proclaim a holy war against heretics, to be called the penance war. At the sound of this horrid trumpet, multitudes rushed to the standard, enrolling themselves in this holy society, as they presumptuously imagined it to be, wearing a black cloak over a white garment, and receiving the sacrament of the eucharist for the defense of the catholic faith.
The more effectually to subdue the Earl of Toulouse, the pope transmitted his letters to Louis, king of France, exhorting him to take arms against the Albigenses, in the following extraordinary words. "‘It is the command of God, who says, If thou shalt hear say in any one of thy cities which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known, thou shalt smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. Although you are under many obligations already to God, for the great benefits hitherto received from him, from him comes every good and perfect gift, yet you ought to reckon yourself more especially obliged courageously to exert yourself for him against the subverters of the faith, by whom he is blasphemed, and manfully to defend the catholic purity, which many in those parts, adhering to the doctrines of devils, are known to have cast off."
This profound logic was too irresistible to be withstood by Louis, who began to collect an army of crusaders, at the head of which he placed himself, and sat down before the city of Avignon. Raymond, at that time, held several cautionary lands of the King of England; and the pope, suspecting that he might possibly apply for assistance to our English monarch to enable him to defend them, wrote to caution him not to take up arms against the French king, in these words, "Make no war, either by yourself, or your brother, or any other person, on the said king, so long as he is engaged in the affair of the faith and service of Jesus Christ, lest by your obstructing the matter, which God forbid you should do, the king with his prelates and barons of France, should be forced to turn their arms from the extirpation of heretics to their own defense. As for us, since we could not excuse such a conduct, an instance of great indevotion, we could not impart to you our paternal favor, which, under other circumstances, at all proper seasons, should never be wanting to you. And as we are not only ready to do you justice, but even to show you favor, as far as God enables us, we have taken care, that whatever becomes of heretics and their lands, your rights and those of other catholics shall be safe."
The city of Avignon was defended by Earl Raymond with great bravery, and multitudes of the French army fell during the siege. For, besides those that were killed in the ordinary mode of warfare, the army was afflicted with a dysentery and other diseases, which carried off numbers, and among the rest the French monarch. The pope’s legate, for some time, concealed the death of the king, lest the army should break up with disgrace from the siege of a single city, without being able to take it. Finding, however, that it was not to be conquered by force, the legate had recourse to fraud; and even these measures for some time failed him. He then desired that he might be admitted into the city, in company with his prelates, under the pretense that he would examine into the faith of the inhabitants, and affirming with an oath, that he put off the siege of the city for no other cause than the welfare of their souls. He added, that the cry of their infidelity had ascended to the pope; and that he wished to inquire whether they had done altogether according to the cry that had come up before him.
The too credulous citizens, not suspecting the fraud, and especially relying upon the sacredness of his oath, opened their gates, on which the soldiers of the French army, as had been previously determined, rushed violently into the city, seized the citizens, bound them in chains, plundered their houses, killed numbers of the inhabitants, and having thus, by treachery, got possession, they brake down the towers, and destroyed the walls of that noble city. Such is the narrative handed down to us of these sanguinary proceedings by the monk of St. Albans, Matthew Paris. Avignon being thus taken, the crusaders next bent all their forces against Toulouse. This city, which was most gallantly defended, maintained a long siege, but it was at length taken, in 1221, and young Raymond compelled to submit to terms even more severe than those which were proposed to his father in the council of Arles. From this period the Albigenses declined greatly in France. For, being no longer permitted to find an asylum under any of the reigning princes, such of them as escaped the edge of the sword, and the vengeance of their adversaries, fled for refuge into the valleys of Piedmont and other places, dispersing themselves in every direction, as will be shown in the ensuing section, wherever they could enjoy quietness and the liberty of worshipping God agreeably to the exercise of a good conscience.
As to the ordinary manner of proceeding with such as fell into their hands captives of war, a single extract from Limborch’s history may suffice to show. "A person of the name Robert," says he, quoting the Annals of Bzovins, and of Raynaldus, 1207, etc. "who had been of the sect of the Albigenses, but afterwards joined the Dominicans, supported by the authority of the princes and magistrates, burnt all who persisted in their heresy. Within two months he caused fifty persons, without distinction of sex, either to be burnt or buried alive, whence he was called ‘the manner of the Heretics.’ In 1211 they took the city of Alby, and there put numbers to death. They took La Vaur by storm, and burnt in it multitudes of the Albigenses. They hanged Almeric, the governor of that city, who was of a very noble family; and beheaded eighty of the inferior rank, not sparing the females. They threw the sister of Almeric, who was the principal lady of the sect of the Albigenses, into a well, and covered her with stones. Afterwards they conquered Carcum, and put sixty men to death. They seized on Pulchra Vallis, a large city near Toulouse, committed four hundred Albigenses to the flames, and hanged fifty more." Thuanus, that impartial Catholic writer, in the History of his own Times, book 6, confirms this dreadful statement in its general results, and further adds, "that after the capture of La Vaur, the towns of Les Cures, Rabastains, Gaillac, St. Marcel, St. Anthonin, Causac, and Moisac, were stormed, and a great massacre made of the townsmen by the conquerors. The castle, of Perre in the Agenois having after a long siege capitulated, seventy of the soldiers were hanged, and the others who adhered to their errors were burnt alive. Nor was Paris itself exempt from this contagion; for fourteen persons, most of whom were priests (teachers among the Albigenses) being convicted of this error, expired in the flames. In England they were handled with more mildness, if loss of life be the measure of punishment, but with more ignominy; the convicted persons being branded with a hot iron on their shoulders, or even on their foreheads."
But, independent of those that fell by the edge of the sword, or were committed to the flames by the soldiers and magistrates, the inquisition was constantly at work, from the year 1206 to 1228, and produced the most dreadful havoc among the disciples of Christ. Of the effects occasioned by this infernal engine of cruelty and oppression, we may have some notion from this circumstance,--that in the last-mentioned year the archbishops of Aix, Arles, and Narbonne, found it necessary to intercede with the monks of the Inquisition, to defer a little their work of imprisonment, until the pope could be apprised of the immense numbers apprehended--numbers so great, that it was impossible to defray the charge of their subsistence, or even to provide stone and mortar to build prisons for them. Their own language, indeed, is so remarkable, that it deserves to be laid before the reader, and here it is.
"It has come to our knowledge," say they, "that you have apprehended so many of the Waldenses, that it is not only impossible to defray the charges of their subsistence, but also to provide stone and mortar to build prisons for them. We, therefore, advise you to defer for a while augmenting their number, until the pope be apprised of the great multitudes that have been apprehended, and until he notify what he pleases to have done in this case. Nor is there any reason you should take offense hereat; for as to those who are altogether impenitent and incorrigible, or concerning whom you may doubt of their relapse or escape, or that, being at large again, they would infect others, you may condemn such without delay" [Perrin’s Hist. des Vaudois, book 2, chapter 2].
Such is the representation given us by writers of unimpeachable veracity, of the merciless treatment which the Albigenses received from the Catholics at this period, purely on account of their religious profession. ["In the council of Toulouse, held in the year 1229, a most severe and sanguinary inquisition was established against heretics. One of its canons is, ‘it shall not be permitted to laymen to have the books of the Old and New Testament; only they who out of devotion desire it, may have a Psalter, a Breviary, and the hours of the Virgin. But we absolutely forbid them to have the above mentioned books translated into the vulgar tongue.’ This is the first time, says the Abbe Fleury, in his Ecclesiastical History, that I have met with this prohibition: but it may be favorably explained by observing that the minds of men being then much irritated, there was no other method of putting a stop to contentions, than by taking away from them the Holy Scriptures, of which the heretics made a bad use." A poor excuse indeed! says Dr. Jortin. Remarks, volume 3, p. 311.]
Before I dismiss the subject, it may be proper to notice a difficulty which will strike the minds of reflecting readers. It has been intimated both by the friends and enemies of the Waldenses, that they had religious scruples against bearing arms, and even shedding the blood of animals unnecessarily. The question, therefore, naturally presents itself, "Were they at last driven to the necessity of taking up the sword in defense of their religion and lives?" Upon the lawfulness or unlawfulness of doing so, when pressed by dire necessity, I shall offer no opinion in this place. My business is to state facts as I find them; and that the reader may not suspect me of a wish to misrepresent their principles and conduct in the instance referred to, I shall quote the words of Mr. Robinson, who had much better means of information than have fallen to my lot.
"The difficulty here is," says he, "how such people as bore no arms, and shed no blood, could be said to bring large armies into the field to defend their rights. The proper answer is--the pious were named from the provinces, the provinces and princes from the pious; for one common principle, that all mankind had a right to be free, brought together Goths and professors of the gospel. Both loved liberty--the latter paid for it by taxes, the knits of their industry, and the former fought for it, and, by defending one, preserved both parties. The church of Rome having adopted clerical dominion as an article of orthodox belief, it followed of course, that resistance to that, was heresy both political and religious. Too many historians take up the affair in the gross, lay it down as they took it up, and gravely say, the Lord, by a course of miracles, assisted his dear servants the Catholics to drown, stab, and burn, forty thousand heretics--because they (the catholics) were afraid of their lives, in a society of people who had such an aversion to the taking away [even] of animal life, that they never killed a bird, from a sparrow to an eagle; or a quadruped, from a weasel to an elephant; and who perpetually exclaimed against penal laws, and thought it wrong to take away the life of man." [Mr. Robinson has here given the very words of the Inquisitor Reinerius, who, describing the Waldneses, says, "Ita, est communis opinio Catharorum, quod graviter peccaret, quicumque occiderit avem aliquam a minima usque ad maximam; et quadrupedia, a mustela usque ad elephantem." That is, "It is also a common opinion among the Puritans (Cathari) that man sins grievously who kills any bird, from the least to the greatest--or a quadruped, from a weasel to an elephant." Contra Waldneses, cap. 6.]
A proper attention to this matter, may help us to solve several things in the writings of the catholics themselves, which must otherwise prove extremely perplexing. Thus for instance, several of their own writers describe the battle which proved so fatal to the cause of the Albigenses. "In the year 1213, the Christian army of eight hundred horse and one thousand foot, near Toulouse, being divided into three corps, in honor of the Holy Trinity, the first under the command of Simon, count of Montfort, the second commanded by the Lord Bishop of Toulouse, and the third by the Lord Bishop of Cominge, attacked the army of the heretics, consisting of an hundred thousand fighting men, and defeated them. The Catholics lost about a hundred men, but of the Albigenses, two and thirty thousand were either killed or drowned in the river Garonne." [Voltaire’s remark upon this curious piece of Catholic history, may be thought by some not altogether impertinent, "Is it likely," he asks, "that only eighteen hundred men would attack an army of an hundred thousand in the open field, and divide themselves into three bodies? ‘It is a miracle,’ some writers will say, but military people, upon reading such a story, will tell them it is nonsense and absurdity." General History, volume 1, chapter 1.]
This they call the battle of Murat,* and they add, that after this victory many of the surviving heretics fled into the valleys of Piedmont, where their descendants resided, till two hundred years after, when Huss revived the same heresy in Bohemia, and Luther in Germany, about a hundred years after him. The explanation of all this miracle is, that the cities and towns that were attacked by the crusaders were peopled with mechanics, manufacturers, and husbandmen of the kind described by the inquisitors--an industrious and virtuous people, who took no oaths, objected to wars of every kind, and refused to shed the blood of a fellow-creature, even in defense of their own lives. Such appears plainly to have been the case with the Albigenses. The Count of Toulouse, and the barons and vassals that constituted his army, no doubt acted upon different maxims; for, had they followed out the principles of these Albigenses, they would have dissolved the whole feudal system; but they approved of the conduct of these people in dissenting from the communion of the church of Rome, admired the simplicity of their doctrine and worship, and, to the utmost of their power, protected them from the rage of their bigoted and sanguinary persecutors. [See Robinson’s Ecclesiastical Researches, chapter 10, and Dr. Allix’s Remarks on the Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches of the Albigenses, chapter 21.]
[* A singular disclosure was made after this battle, and as the circumstance tends to throw a ray of light upon the secret history of these times it deserves to be recorded. When the battle of Murat was over, there was found among the slain belonging to the Albigenses a knight in black armor. On examining, behold it was discovered to be Peter, king of Arragon--that very monarch, who had formerly been engaged in negotiating between the pope’s legate and the earl of Beziers (see p. 127). There also lay one of his sons and many of the Arragonian gentlemen and vassals, who, while ostensibly supporting the Roman church had in disguise, been fighting in defense of the Albigenses!]