A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume ILea, Henry Charles
History
A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I
Lea, Henry Charles
Inquisition -- History
If proof were lacking of de Montfort's pre-eminent capacity it would be
furnished by the rapid undoing of all that he had accomplished, in the
hands of his son and successor Amauri. Even during the siege his
prestige was yet such that, December 18, 1217, the powerful Jourdain de
l'Isle-Jourdain made submission to him as Duke of Narbonne and Count of
Toulouse and furnished as securities Géraud, Count of Armagnac and
Fézenzac, Roger, Viscount of Fézenzaquet, and other nobles; and in
February, 1218, the citizens of Narbonne abandoned their rebellious
attitude. His death was regarded as the signal of liberation, and
wherever the French garrisons were not too strong, the people arose,
massacred the invaders, and gave themselves back to their ancient lords.
Vainly did Honorius recognize Amauri as the successor to his father's
lordships, put the two Raymonds to the ban, and grant Philip Augustus a
twentieth of ecclesiastical revenues as an incentive to another
crusade, while plenary indulgence was offered to all who would serve.
Vainly did Louis Cœur-de-Lion, with his father's sanction, and
accompanied by the Cardinal-Legate Bertrand, lead a gallant army of
pilgrims which numbered in its ranks no less than thirty-three counts
and twenty bishops. They penetrated, indeed, to Toulouse, but the third
siege of the unyielding city was no more successful than its
predecessors, and Louis was obliged to withdraw ingloriously, having
accomplished nothing but the massacre of Marmande, where five thousand
souls were put to the sword, without distinction of age or sex. Indeed,
the pitiless cruelty and brutal licentiousness habitual among the
Crusaders, who spared no man in their wrath, and no woman in their lust,
aided no little in inflaming the resistance to foreign domination. One
by one the strongholds still held by the French were wrested from their
grasp, and but very few of the invaders founded families who kept their
place among the gentry of the land. In 1220 a new legate, Conrad, tried
the experiment of founding a military order under the name of the
Knights of the Faith of Jesus Christ, but it proved useless. Equally
vain was the papal sentence of excommunication and exheredation
fulminated in 1221; and when, in the same year, Louis undertook a new
crusade and received from Honorius a twentieth of the Church revenues to
defray the expenses, he turned the army thus raised against the English
possessions and captured La Rochelle, in spite of the protests of king
and pope.[162]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account