Pocket Essentials Guide to The Cathars Main Page (original) (raw)

The Cathars

new mini hardback format

the pocket essential guide
Sean Martin

this edition is currently unavailable from us in hard copy
but there are eBook versions available
(see the links below)

ISBN: 978-1-904048-33-6
extent: 160pp
binding: hardback
price £9.99
pub. date January 2005

featuring:

The Bogomils
Cathar Treasure
Cult of the Divine Feminine
Troubadors
Peter of Castelnau
B�ziers, Minerve and Lavaur
Monts�gur and Qu�ribus
The Albigensian Crusade
Pierre Autier
and more...

Catharism was the most successful heresy of the Middle Ages. Flourishing principally in the Languedoc and Italy, the Cathars taught that the world is evil and must be transcended through a simple life of prayer, work, fasting and non-violence. They believed themselves to be the heirs of the true heritage of Christianity going back to apostolic times, and completely rejected the Catholic Church and all its trappings, regarding it as the Church of Satan; Cathar services and ceremonies, by contrast, were held in fields, barns and in people�s homes.

Finding support from the nobility in the fractious political situation in southern France, the Cathars also found widespread popularity among peasants and artisans. And again unlike the Church, the Cathars respected women, and women played a major role in the movement. Alarmed at the success of Catharism, the Church founded the Inquisition and launched the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate the heresy. While previous Crusades had been directed against Muslims in the Middle East, the Albigensian Crusade was the first Crusade to be directed against fellow Christians, and was also the first European genocide. With the fall of the Cathar fortress of Monts�gur in 1244, Catharism was largely obliterated, although the faith survived into the early fourteenth century.

Today, the mystique surrounding the Cathars is as strong as ever, and Sean Martin recounts their story and the myths associated with them in this lively and gripping book.

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