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“Le Pays Cathare”, that’s the name
given to the area in south France, extending from Narbonne to Toulouse and the
Pyrenées to Albi. It’s an area, drenched in history, and a very animated one.
The Cathars in the 13th century were a totally incomprehended and
hated people, victim of bloody battles and almost a genocide.
Until today, deep scars sill testify of that horrible period. This visit started
3 years ago, and was completed here and there by my parents in law, older people
but still young in travel, together with a bibliography which I mention at the
end of each article.
The Cathars were peaceful people, believing in a God that didn’t know of any
punishment or revenge, no hell or damnation, only love. But because they
couldn’t believe that a god, that was all love and kindness, created all that
evil and ruthlessness, they assumes there were two gods.
Here you had one God, the god of light who created heaven. Then you hade the
other god, creator of evil and darkness, who had built a world of violence,
corruption, deception, death and perdition.
The Cathars didn’t build churches or cloisters, they didn’t have any art
treasures, didn’t produce expensive, enlightened manuscripts and didn’t worship
reliquaries. Working and preaching, they travelled throughout the country to
spread their religious belief. They didn’t possess any other items than the
clothes they wear and a few parchments with the New Testament.
Their doctrine had a lot of success in the south of France and the number of
followers and supporters grew explosively. This was too much became a very
painful thorn in the eyes of the pope, who decided in 1209, that enough was
enough. He assembled a crusade to disinfect the world of these godless
creatures. An enormous army crossed the valley of the Rhone with fierce banners
and the first serious battle took place near Beziers. It was a matter of hors
before the whole city was murdered and exterminated, then put on fire and
totally destroyed. Only a fuming heap of ruins remained. The victorious army
continued its way……
West of Beziers, the country starts to be hillier. Behind each relief hides
another pleasant surprise: capricious rock formations, a lovely village, a
castle. Picturesque ravines loiter around in the landscape and far below, some
innocent brooks twist through the woods. At the junction of two chasms lies the
village Minerve, amidst the rocks with a bridge over the ravine. Walk over this
bridge and you’ll walk into history. You cannot imagine what happened here
during that Cathar war period! Walk in the streets, covered with small
cobblestones, take the steep climb and you’ll end up on a place where you leave
the village and enter bald rock formations. Here stands a lonely tower, only
remainder of a huge castle. What happened here centuries ago is for next
article. |
