by B. Stone

Created on: June 16, 2009

During the Crusades, all of Europe was swept up in the call to defend Christendom. Although this traditionally meant taking up arms against the Muslims forces in the East as well as Spain, it also included abolishing the heretics at home. In Medieval times, heresy was a direct threat against the power of the church because heretical beliefs put in question the very reason for the church's existence. The Albigensian Crusade was a profound example of this, pitting the agenda of Pope Innocent III against the Albigensian followers and supporters in the Languedoc region in Southern France.

Between the Fourth and Fifth Crusades, the Albigensian Crusade took place over a period of twenty-one years, beginning in 1208 when Pope Innocent III officially defined the campaigns against the Albigensian religion (also known as Catharism) as a Crusade. Albigensianism started in the first centuries of Christianity. Its basic beliefs are inherently heretical to the beliefs of Christendom.

In Catharism, the universe is basically a battleground between a good god and and evil god, with God ruling the spiritual realm, and Satan having dominion over the material world. Therefore, the material world, and life on earth itself is evil, so the goal is to be released from earthly bonds into God's realm, at the same time thwarting the plans of Satan. The only way to become free is to be cleansed through the Cathari ritual of consolamentum, in which a 'Believer' becomes a 'Perfect'. A Perfect must live a life free of sin, abstaining from sex, meat, eggs and lavishness. Many Albigensians became Perfects at the end of their lives. If consolamentum didn't take place by the time of one's death, the Albigensian religion believed that they would have another chance in their next incarnation.

Perhaps most threatening about Albigensianism were its beliefs about Christ and the Catholic church. They accepted Christ as God, but believed that he was never a man, but in fact a spirit walking on earth. Albigensians believe that Christ's teachings were grossly misunderstood and re-taught by the evil one's creation - the Catholic church. Their religion taught that the pope himself as well as his bishops were minions of Satan.

The reason that Catharism lasted for so hundreds of years in the Languedoc is because of the area's political situation. Normally, the church relied on local secular authorities to regulate any religious opposition. There was no strong central authority in the region

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