Who were the Cathars in the Middle Ages

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After the extinction of the Western Roman Empire, we will find that the only institution that served to connect the recent barbarian kingdoms was the Catholic Church, which, through a series of bishoprics and dioceses and archdioceses, maintained contact to the limits of all Europe. The inconvenience was that, with the passage of time, the Church was losing its destiny and therefore some members of this began a new path creating a different currents of thought. In this lesson from a TEACHER we will talk about who were the cathars.

Index

1. What does the word Cathar mean?
2. When did Catharism begin?
3. What did the Cathars preach?
4. The Albigensian Heresy and the Cathar Crusade

We began our lesson on who the Cathars were by focusing on the definition of the word. Two possibilities have been observed for the use of the word Cathar: at first, it was thought to come from a Greek word which is synonymous with pure

Depending on the writers, the Cathars would be the purest religious men or true infidels who made pacts with the devil.

But it is also that the Cathars are known by the name of Albigenses because it was in the city of Albi where it is said that they had more importance, although in reality it was throughout the territory of French Occitania where we will find most of their activities.

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We continue traveling until ancient Byzantium, place where it is said that the Cathar current was born. From there, after the expulsion of these, they were marching towards the West spreading throughout Europe, where they were known by various names, such as Bulgarians.

They reached France and the north of Spain where they would settle with great force; The first square where they will appear with the name of Cathars was in the Occitan city of Limousin in the year 1012. From the first moment, they had serious problems with the local church and with some members of the power, since their thinking went against their designs, for this reason in the year 1022 most of their members were convicted and executed.

However, the people saw them as saviors to most of his prayers and were covered up by most members of French Occitania.

One of the most important points we will find in his philosophical current, because it is very useful to us to understand why the common people supported and defended him with their lives.

First of all, we have to know that the Cathars they did not accept that the Church charged for all the sacraments and, much less, that souls had to pay their eternal rest (in the Middle Ages a certain amount of alms had to be paid throughout life to obtain eternal rest, hence most of the donations that were made throughout the period). In this other lesson we will discover what it was like the Church in the Middle Ages.

In the same way, they did not believe in the sacraments that were carried out until now, in fact, they only had one sacrament that was the consolationum, a kind of extreme anointing where they accompanied the dying until eternal rest.

They also defended that the poorest of the social pyramid see the possibility of reaching paradise, since, being poor, with the Catholic Church it would be impossible for them.

Image: Discover History

We continue our lesson on who the Cathars were, with the last stage of life of that religion. We have to know that, from the beginning, there was strong opposition by power over this new stream of thought. But it was from the year 1207 when the repression against them was reactivated in a much harsher way, since Innocent III called the princes of Christendom to a crusade against the cathars, which wanted to destabilize the entire Christian world.

In this way, the Occitan region of France was plunged into a series of wars where the feudal lords were placing themselves on both sides. In the year 1213 an important event occurs, as it is the year of the battle of Muret, in which King of Aragon Pedro II was assassinated.

This was because, at that time, the kingdom of Aragon owned part of Occitania and, since its vassals They were in danger, he had to come to his aid, but the strategy was a weak point and he ended up paying for it with his own lifetime.

In the year 1229 the crusade ended, with the imposition of the Holy Inquisition in said lands. However, it was not until the year 1244 that the last survivors of the Cathar heresy, who had settled in the castle of Montsegur, were wiped out. March 16, 1244 more than 200 men and women were burned alive in a bonfire at the foot of the citadel.

And for almost 100 years, the InquisitionHe dedicated himself to persecuting any suspect of Catharism, finding the last writings on them in the year 1330.

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