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Cathar religion and the cathars in France - History of France
The Cathar religion has its roots in eastern religions of 2500 years ago, with the ideas of Zoroastre (Zarathoustra) that the world consisted of two opposing forces, representing good and evil. Many subsequent religions take this starting point, and the Cathar religion that arrive in Europe via the Balkans in the 11th century is one of these.
The fundamental difference between a 'dualist' religion like the cathars, and a religion like Christianity, is the importance given to the evil forces. Cathars and other dualists believe that these are of equal importance, whereas Christians believe that the forces of good are superior.
Although it shares many principles with Christianity, the Cathar religion differs from the Christian religion in some important respects. Marriage was outlawed, as was the private ownership of property. The cathars believed in reincarnation as a path towards eternal life, were strictly vegetarian, and had to abstain from all sexual pleasures. The abstinence from sex was because the cathars believed that a good soul, created by God, was trapped in an evil body, created by the devil. The goal was to reach heaven, not to perpetuate life on an evil earth.
Cathars expelled from Carcassonne in 1209
The goal of the cathar religion was to obtain purity, to become 'parfaits'. As with all religions perhaps, the number of truly dedicated, who followed the rules to the letter, was substantially less than the number who broadly supported the principles of the religion but did not forego all earthly pleasures.
The word kathari, from which cathar is probably derived, is the Greek word for pure.
The Cathars in France were based largely in the Languedoc region, near Toulouse, and Albi and Carcassonne, with a popularity arising at least in part as a reaction to the over-excesses of the Roman Catholic church. The Cathar religion was supported by many in the region, both peasants and nobles alike - perhaps 10% of the population were supporters.
At this stage, the Toulouse Counts owned large parts of the south of France, and were more 'modern' than the northern part of the country, rejecting the feudal structures of northern France. It was also this 'modernism' - for example, cities were allowed to elect their own representatives - that helped allow the Cathar religion to spread.
Initially attempts were made to unite the Cathars and the Catholics, but these were not successful. The Catholic church considered the Cathar religion as heretical, because it rejected significant parts of both the old and New Testaments, including the notion that God created a fundamentally good earth. Cathars attributed the creation of the heavens to God, and the Earth to the devil.
Hence the greater the strength of the cathar religion, the greater the threat perceived by the Catholic church. When Pope Innocent III was elected in 1198 the battle against the Cathars started in earnest, and this conflict between the cathar religion and the catholics would eventually be the downfall of the cathars.
Early in the 1208 a papal legate was murdered by a representative of the Count of Toulouse (quite possibly without his knowledge or support) and this provided a pretext for the Pope to launch a crusade against the Cathars - the Albigensian Crusade - because of the threat the Roman Catholic church believed it poised to their authority. In reality, the Crusade has as much to do with controlling the southern nobles as defeating the Cathars, and it was with the support of the King and northern nobles that the crusade was launched.
Contents
Part 1: Cathar religion
Part 2: Cathars - Albigensian crusade
Part 3: Cathars - Royal crusade
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