Who were the albigensians and what did they believe?

The Albigensians believed in a dualist philosophy. In this philosophy, the universe was clearly divided into two Gods or forces. One of these was the force of evil, namely Satan, who represented all that was chaotic and material in the world.

What was unique about the Albigensian Crusade?

The Albigensian Crusade had a role in the creation and institutionalization of both the Dominican Order and the Medieval Inquisition. The Dominicans promulgated the message of the Church to combat alleged heresies by preaching the Church’s teachings in towns and villages, while the Inquisition investigated heresies.

Which French king killed the Cathars?

Let us know. Massacre at Béziers, (21–22 July 1209). This brutal massacre was the first major battle in the Albigensian Crusade called by Pope Innocent III against the Cathars, a religious sect.

What were the beliefs of the Cathars?

They are said to have been fundamentalists who believed there were two gods: A good one who presided over the spiritual world, and an evil one who ruled the physical world. Cathars viewed even sex within marriage and reproduction as evil, and so lived strict lives of abstention.

What does albigenses mean?

Albigenses, also called Albigensians, the heretics—especially the Catharist heretics—of 12th–13th-century southern France. The heresy, which had penetrated into these regions probably by trade routes, came originally from eastern Europe.

What did the Albigensian Crusade signify?

Albigensian Crusade, Crusade (1209–29) called by Pope Innocent III against the Cathari, a dualist religious movement in southern France that the Roman Catholic Church had branded heretical. Although the Crusade did not eliminate Catharism, it eventually enabled the French king to establish his authority over the south.

In what way was the Albigensian Crusade a political conflict?

The Albigensian Crusade saw religious goals conflict with political realities in Languedoc as crusaders attempted to establish secular and religious authority in a region that saw the crusade as a war of aggression rather than one of religious reformation.

What is Cathar religion?

Cathari, (from Greek katharos, “pure”), also spelled Cathars, heretical Christian sect that flourished in western Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries. The Cathari professed a neo-Manichaean dualism—that there are two principles, one good and the other evil, and that the material world is evil.

What is Cathar faith?