The first Catharist heretics appeared in Limousin between 1012 and 1020. Several were discovered and put to death at Toulouse in 1022; and the synod of Charroux (dep. of Vienne) in 1028, and that of Toulouse in 1056, condemned the growing sect. The preachers Raoul Ardent in 1101 and Robert of Arbrissel in 1114 were summoned to the districts of the Agenais and the Toulousain to combat the heretical propaganda. But, protected by William IX., duke of Aquitaine, and soon by a great part of the southern nobility, the heretics gained ground in the south, and in 1119 the council of Toulouse in vain ordered the secular powers to assist the ecclesiastical authority in quelling the heresy. The people were attached to the bons hommes, whose asceticism imposed upon the masses, and the anti-sacerdotal preaching of Peter of Bruys and Henry of Lausanne in Perigord. Languedoc and Provence, only facilitated the progress of Catharism in those regions. In 1147 Pope Eugenius III. sent the legate Alberic of Ostia and St Bernard to the affected district. The few isolated successes of the abbot of Clairvaux could not obscure the real results of this mission, and the meeting at Lombers in 1165 of a synod, where Catholic priests had to submit to a discussion with Catharist doctors, well shows the power of the sect in the south of France at that period. Moreover. two years afterwards a Catharist synod, in which heretics from Languedoc, Bulgaria and Italy took part, was held at St Felix de Caraman, near Toulouse, and their deliberations were undisturbed. The missions of Cardinal Peter (of St Chrysogonus). formerly bishop of Meaux, to Toulouse and the Toulousain in 1178, and of Henry, cardinal-bishop of Albano (formerly abbot ol Clairvaux), in 1180-1181, obtained merely momentary successes. Henry of Albano attempted an armed expedition against the stronghold of heretics at Lavaur and against Raymond Roger. viscount of Beziers, their acknowledged protector. The taking of Lavaur and the submission of Raymond Roger in no way arrested the progress of the heresy. The persistent decisions of the councils against the heretics at this period--in particular, those of the council of Tours (1163) and of the oecumenical Lateran council (1179)---had scarcely more effect.
Continued on page two.
This article is from the 1911 edition of an encyclopedia, which is out of copyright here in the U.S. It is in the public domain and you may copy, download, print and distribute this work as you see fit.
Every effort has been made to present this text accurately and cleanly, but no guarantees are made against errors. Neither Melissa Snell nor About may be held liable for any problems you experience with the text version or with any electronic form of this document.
