The Inquisition : $b a political and military study of its establishmentNickerson, Hoffman
History
The Inquisition : $b a political and military study of its establishment
Nickerson, Hoffman
Albigenses; Christian heresies -- History -- Middle Ages, 600-1500; Inquisition; Prohibition
The terms were hard. Raymond was to pursue heretics and their
“favorers” without reserve, even to his nearest kinsmen. The familiar
conditions of restoration of Church property, dismissal of bandit
mercenaries, and establishing public security, again appear. In
addition, the Count was to pay handsomely for ten years, “two masters
in theology, two decretalists and six masters in grammar and the
liberal arts” as members of the faculty of Toulouse University.
He made also the familiar promise to crusade to Palestine, and
engaged to do so within two years and remain in the Holy Land five
years more. He, and after him his daughter Jeanne, were to retain
Toulouse itself, Agen, Rouergue, Quercy except Cahors, and part of
the district of Albi. The duchy of Narbonne and the counties of
Velay, Gevaudan, Viviers, and Lodeve reverted at once to the Crown.
The Church took the “Marquisate of Provence” a fief of the Empire
to the east of the Rhône. Jeanne’s betrothal to Prince Alphonse, a
child of nine, was treated as a royal “grace” bestowed on Raymond,
and so was the royal amnesty to the numerous prescribed gentlemen of
Languedoc, except the heretics among them. His vassals and people
also subscribed to the conditions, and swore to acknowledge the
King as their sole lord after forty days should Raymond fail in any
particular. The glory had departed from Toulouse.
The settlement ended the struggle. The Count of Foix came in and made
his peace the following year. Raymond seems to have lived up to the
conditions, except that he kept putting off crusading to Palestine.
In 1237 the light-weight Amaury de Montfort played the fool by
calling himself Duke of Narbonne and by making attempts on the county
of Melgueil in his own name, and on Dauphiné in the name of his wife.
Gregory IX brought him up with a round turn and ordered him off to
Palestine. His ill luck held; he was taken prisoner by the Saracens
and held for three years until Gregory ransomed him, whereupon he
ended his futile life at Otranto, on his way home in 1241. In 1240,
there was a last flicker of local independence. The last of the
Trencavels scraped up some support in Spain and laid siege to his
ancestral city of Carcassonne. There was no movement in his favour
among the people, and he was unable to reduce the royal garrison, so
he ravaged the countryside before taking himself off and disappearing
from history. Seven years later Raymond VII died, in the midst of
preparing for his long-postponed crusade to Palestine. Countess
Jeanne and Prince Alphonse, who had been duly married, succeeded to
what was left of his possessions. In 1271 they died without issue and
King Philip III, St. Louis’ heir, took their lands.
Summarizing the four phases of the war, in the first the Crusaders
appear in great force in obedience to the Church and take Beziers and
Carcassonne. This phase lasts only a few months in 1209.
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