The Cathars

A detailed exploration of the Cathar movement, a dualist Christian sect that flourished in southern France, particularly in the Languedoc region, during the 12th and 13th centuries. This book, available in English, serves as both a historical guide and a visual tour, blending scholarly analysis with an illustrated journey through Cathar sites.

The Cathars, also known as Albigensians after the town of Albi, emerged as a reaction to the perceived corruption of the Catholic Church, advocating a return to a purer form of Christianity. Roux-Perino traces their beliefs, rooted in dualism inherited from Bogomilism and Manichaeism, positing two gods: a good spiritual deity and an evil material one (often identified as Satan or the Demiurge). They rejected Catholic sacraments like the Eucharist and priesthood, emphasizing personal purity through a strict lifestyle for the "perfecti" (elite members), who practiced celibacy, vegetarianism (except for fish), and poverty. The "credentes" (believers) followed less rigorous rules, with the consolamentum—a laying on of hands—offered as a final purification, often near death.

The book details the Cathars’ rise in Occitania, where their egalitarian views and rejection of Church wealth attracted followers disillusioned with clerical excesses. This alarmed the Catholic hierarchy, leading Pope Innocent III to launch the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) after the 1208 murder of papal legate Pierre de Castelnau. The crusade, led by Simon de Montfort, devastated Languedoc, with sieges like that of Minerve (1210) resulting in mass burnings—nearly 140 Cathars died there. The Inquisition later eradicated remaining adherents by the 14th century.