THE INQUISITION IN THE LANGUEDOC
The Albigensian Crusades came to a triumphant end with the surrender of the Count of Toulouse and the harsh Treaty of Paris in 1229. With this, the war to destroy Catharism intensified. For the first few years it was mainly left to the Bishops to uncover and punish heretics, which they did with varying degrees of vigour. Some, such as the successive Dominican Bishops of Toulouse, were ruthless, condemning many heretics and sending them to be burned at the stake. But others did little.
By 1233 the frustrated Pope would wait no longer. He appointed the Dominican Order to make inquisition against heretics in the Languedoc. The infamous Inquisition had been born.
The Dominicans embraced their commission with fervour. A reign of terror commenced, with anonymous accusations, clever interrogation techniques, torture and fearsome punishments. Many were sent to the stake when they failed to abjure their Cathar faith. In Moissac alone, 210 were burned to death in 1234.
The Inquisition came to be hated with a passion, as well as feared, by the people of the Languedoc. It aroused determined opposition. The Dominican convent in Narbonne was sacked in 1234; and in 1235 the Consuls and the people of Toulouse threw the Bishop and the Dominican Order out of Toulouse. But this was only a temporary respite. The Inquisition was soon back with undiminished powers and zeal; backed by a furiously determined Pope, the Roman Catholic Church and a committed King of France.
The modus operandi of the Inquisition in any part of the Languedoc came to be as follows. First the Inquisitors preached a public sermon and called for confessions. Those who came forward at that time were promised more lenient treatment, with relatively light penances such as giving alms and going on pilgrimage, provided they fully cooperated in a detailed cross examination by the Inquisitor. Those coming forward were deemed not to have shown proper repentance unless they named everyone who might possibly be or be an associate of heretics and gave full details. Under enormous pressure those before the Inquisition were required to name anyone about whom they had even the slightest suspicion. It was also an occasion to even old scores. In such a fashion, the Inquisitors, who kept meticulous records, developed a huge list of names to cross check and investigate. Once the slightest finger of suspicion fell on anyone, essentially, they had to prove their innocence, without anyone to assist them, without knowing the identity of their accusers and with no right of appeal. – an almost impossible task.
Of course those that didn’t come forward voluntarily were treated more harshly. Of these, those who did not confess to what the Inquisitors suspected they were guilty of were cruelly treated, with psychological and physical interrogation, including torture. The Inquisitors were master interrogators, adroit at tripping up witnesses.
A suspected heretic who failed to confess and convince the Inquisitors of their genuine repentance faced life in prison, with all their goods confiscated, leaving their families destitute. Those that relapsed into heresy after earlier repenting not only lost all their property, but were mercilessly burned at the stake.
Once one person in a group of Cathars was caught and made to confess, even if only an insignificant supporter who supplied them with food or ran messages, it was only a matter of time before all the others in the group were also caught.
For a Cathar, dying without being caught was no escape. Often dead people were fingered as heretics, a charge it was almost impossible for the heirs to defend; leading to the heirs being penalised by the forfeiture of all the dead person’s property.
The Inquisition continued in the Languedoc throughout the whole of the balance of the thirteenth century and well into the fourteenth century. By 1350, it was all over. There were no more Cathars left in the Languedoc. The heresy had been entirely eliminated.
As the renowned medieval historian Joseph l Strayer said*
“the Inquisition [was] one of the most effective means of thought control that Europe has ever known. They were completely successful: The losing faith, the Albigensian heresy, was exterminated.”
The Inquisition in the Languedoc forms an important part of the backdrop for Colin Windeyer’s books Call the Intention Good and Call the Acts Chaos.
* Joseph R Strayer, in the preface to his book “The Albigensian Crusades”. The University of Michigan Press, 1995
