The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages [Paperback]

Malcolm Barber (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0582256615 | ISBN-13: 978-0582256613 | Publication Date: August 6, 2000

 The Cathars are one of the most famous heretical movements of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. They infiltrated the highest ranks of society and posed a major threat not only to the Catholic Church but also to secular authorities as well. The movement was finally smashed by the crusade and the inquisitional proceedings that followed. This new study is the first comprehensive history of the Cathars. It addresses major topics in medieval history including heresy, orthodoxy and the Crusades as well as providing a history of the social and political history of Languedoc and the rise of the Capetian dynasty. A fascinating study of the development of radical religious belief and its violent suppression.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'well-illustrated and attractive...deserves a wide readership' English Historical Review'provides an admirable review of recent scholarship...Professor Barber has shown the ways in which Cathar history should move forward'.History 'beautifully written ... Barber's cool common sense gives a chance to see the religion and the society in which it became rooted in a new light. Highly recommended'THES 'excellent history' Antiquaries Journal

From the Back Cover

The Cathars were dualist heretics who, in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, presented more coherent doctrinal opposition to the Catholic church than any contemporary movement. They were present in most areas of Latin Christendom, but they were particularly strong in southern France and northern Italy, where they drew adherents from all social classes.

This new book traces the origins and spread of dualist ideas, assesses their attraction for contemporaries, and describes the reaction of the ecclesiastical and lay authorities in the form of preaching campaigns, intellectual refutation, crusade, and inquisitorial investigations. A fascinating account of the development of radical religious belief and the means used to suppress it, this book raises many important issues which transcend the specifics of time and place, including the nature of evil, the ethics of warfare, and the use made of history by later generations.

Richly illustrated, this book will have a wide appeal for all those interested in medieval perceptions of the world, the Crusades and the Inquisition.

Malcolm Barber is Professor of History at the University of Reading. He is the author of The Two Cities:Medieval Europe, 1050-1320 (1992), and two books on the Templars, The Trial of the Templars (1978) and The New Knighthood (1994).

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Longman (August 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582256615
• ISBN-13: 978-0582256613
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,420,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Barber does it again-magnificent!, June 2, 2004

By 

Leon "Leon" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages (Paperback)

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who has done more scholarly work on the Templars and Cathars than Malcomb Barber. Simply stated, Barber's work, which traces the genesis of the Cathar religion from original source documents, to their ultimate demise in the 1400's.

Barber begins his study with the origins of the cathars from the Manchieans to the Bogomils and either supports or refutes various other conclusions concerning the Cathar history. He identifies the ideology from original source documents, and ultimately the schisim within the Cathar Church as to theology.

Perhaps the most profound impact this book will have, at least to those who take the time and read it, is to emphatically refute the claims of that nice little cottage industry that has been percolating throughout the years that the Cathars were the guardians or holders of this magnificent treasure, or that they were the guardians of the true teachings of Christ. Nothing could be further from the truth, as wonderfully pointed out by Barber. Yes the Catholic Church was bad, but enough with the conspiracy stories. I implore you to read Barber's books on the Templars and then compare those books and their research to this cottage industry, I think you will find not only that Barber is unquestionably one of the finest historians today, but that books like Holy Blood Holy Grail simply don't make sense.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, September 16, 2005

By 

Casper Denck (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages (Paperback)

Malcolm Barber's The Cathars is a generalist scholarly introduction the theology and history of the Cathars. Beginning with a brief examination of Cathar antecedents and the question of whether there was a conscious continuance of the dualist-Gnostic tradition of the Manicheans or Bogomils Barber then proceeds to offer individual chapters on the history of Cartharism. Particularly helpful was the delineation of the different emphases of different factions of 13th century Cartharism, most notably the absolute and moderate dualism of different groups. This book encompasses both the origins of Cartharism, discusses reasons for its growth. Its main contribution however is its survey of the so called Albigensian crusade. The book ends with a very helpful chapter of the historiography of Cartharism and the (mis)uses to which this story has been put.

This book will be of interest to students of religious history and I certainly found it a very helpful introduction to Cathar belief. By way of criticism however I did feel that the section of on Cathar theology and ethics while good could have been more comprehensive. Nonetheless if you want to learn more about Cartharism then this is probably the best focussed study you could buy.

10 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Limited and Confusing Topic, March 13, 2007

By 

Andrew Thomas "Tomas de Frisco" (Dallas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages (Paperback)

Malcolm Barber, The Cathars: Dualistic heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages. Pearson Education Limited 2000 (225 pages) Reviewer: Benjamin Thomas

Malcolm Barber in his book The Cathars explains to a tee the relationships and events that shape and end Catharism in southeastern France during the high medieval ages. Malcolm suggests ever so slightly without having a clear thesis that Catharism wasn't directly killed off by the crusades and violent action, but rather by destabilizing the environment in which the Cathars were tolerated. Malcolm a history professor at the university of Reading has published books dealing with the templars, which provides him with a firm background in the research of occult groups in the medieval world. Malcolm keeps his nose out of the writing and presents a fair view from every direction that he can provide, but often the only view he can provide is of the papal legates and crusaders since few Cathars wanted to leave traces of their heresy for the inquisitors to find. Malcolm is very interested in this topic and although he never says it himself his research is bountiful stretching every piece he could gather from the time period, and all the way back to of the Manichaeans in ancient Persia.
In order for Malcolm to support his thesis he dives back into history with Peter I of the Bogomils in Bulgaria and discusses and uses direct quotes relating to their belief in a dualistic god of pure good of the spiritual world and a evil god of the material world. The Bogomils were equivalent to the eastern parents of the Cathars, becoming a thorn in the power of the patriarch of Constantinople before Cathars were numerous enough to be deemed worthy of a crusade. The Bogomils were allowed to exist because the Bulgarian power structure allowed them to exist, this is a connection one can make latter with how the Cathars prospered and once their powerful supporters were taken away they perished.
Malcolm then moves into the mission work of the Bogomils but only briefly describes the exploits of the missionaries into Lombardy and Languedoc.
The main focus of the book is based on pro-Cathars and anti-Cathars during the crusading period of 1209 till 1229 when the treaty of Paris ended the crusades. The pro Cathar forces where the people and nobles of Trencavel, Foix, Toulouse, and Aragorn. All of the powerful nobility are all catholic in practice but they are against church interference to their local rule. The noble families also have some members in both the catholic and Cathar faith. Malcolm uses two brothers one a priest and the other a Cathar prefecti to demonstrate the division of faith among families and why the locals needed to tolerate Catharism. The toleration of Catharism and the resistance of the nobility to papal interference present another hidden theme of localism in keeping the power local among the counts rather than allowing the papacy to dictate policy.
The Raymond's of Toulouse and Peter of Aragorn are examples for the localism theme, while they practice the catholic religion and even participated in the early stages of the crusades they completely opposed it once they found out about the crusaders taking away the hereditary titles something only the King of Aragorn or the Count of Toulouse were supposed to do, this and the slaughtering of innocents at Bezeirs of the entire city of thousands even though it only held three hundred supposed Cathars prompted a coalition of the local catholic lords against Simon de Montifort's crusading army. The battle of Muret in 1213 was the response of the local Catholic lords against the entirely outside interference of the crusading army mainly from northern France in which King Peter of Aragorn lost his life.
Malcolm goes in sequence of events and subjects which can lead to some overlapping events with different names involved which proves to be quite confusing for the reader. In one instance on the crusades he will share the military side explaining the tactics used in taking Carsarone, and then thirty pages latter he will discuss the reasons why the crusaders took the castle. This chop and piece writing style befuddles the reader and will present every angle but never really providing a clear picture. Malcolm goes into too much detail and the reader will often wonder if they need to be an expert on the topic to understand the vocab Malcolm uses. There were several instances where the words perfecti and bonhome were used but Malcolm never provided a clear definition of what these exactly were thus confusing the reader even more. The detailed accounts he provides is astounding and also extremely dull, he establishes a point and then uses ten examples of sleep material when he could have just provided two or three with action to keep the reader interested. If you plan on enjoying this book with its detailed accounts of the history of the Cathars then plan on doing research of the chronology of the Albigensian crusades as well as looking at a map intravenously to see what location the event is taking place at.