Word: catharism
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Name. French kings longed to possess Languedoc. Innocent III loathed it as the center of the strange Cathar religion, the last great Christian heresy (before the Reformation) to shake the power of Rome. Laying siege to Béziers, the French came in God's name, seeking heretics. But once inside, they slaughtered until the red crosses on their white tunics were lost in blood; in 51 hours, they put to death the city's entire population...
...going. It is rather that the real history is so compelling that the histrionics of her characters sometimes seem frivolous and shoddy intrusions. It is hard, really, to care much about the courtly romance between Roger de Montbrun (Catholic knight of Toulouse) and Lady Gentian d'Aspremont (Cathar heretic), which takes up one-third of the book, at a time when, for example, human heads were actually being used as gun stones, and the brave Count of Toulouse, in order to save his people and make peace with the church, allowed himself to be publicly lashed in Notre Dame...
...Period of Darkness. The enthusiasm of these new-style heretic hunters is being fanned by a number of antiquarians. Dean of them all is tall, gaunt Déodat Roche, 79, a former magistrate of Arques, whose lifelong dedication to spreading the Cathar gospel, organizing pilgrimages to Montségur, and following the strict vegetarian regimen of his heretic ancestors has earned him the nickname "the Cathar Bishop." More active is Sociology Professor René Nelli of the University of Toulouse ("the vicar of Catharism"), who lectures on the subject all over France and has been commissioned by the French...
...Cathar Nelli explains the growing interest in the medieval heresy: "First the continued retreat of Roman Catholicism. Rome fails to answer people's questions. Secondly, the crusade's sites are admittedly picturesque, and the drama has an appealing epic character. Finally, we are living in a period of darkness, anguish, desperateness, wars, massacres, torture, atomic bombs. Isn't science itself satanic? People will talk about Catharism more and more unless we enter a period of 50 years of peace and prosperity. And that isn't likely...