which rests upon the powerful, the only resort for the oppressed upon this earth, not to hold up to public execration the fanatical monks who directed this movement, and the ambi

CHAPTER II. Continuation of the Crusade against the Albigenses, to the Bat- tious who profited by it. Amongst the first, the vengeance tle of Muret, 1210-1213.

of public opinion ought not to rest only upon those who accompanied the crusaders, in their expeditions, who dragged Those who had marched to the First Crusade against the the reformers to the flames, and who mingled their songs of Albigenses, or who had made the campaign of 1209, regarded triumph with the groans of their miserable victims; these their object as completely attained, and the war as termin- were, at least, blinded by the same mad passion with which ated. Indeed, desolation had been carried into the bosom of they had inspired the combatants. There was something the country where the reformation had commenced. Two more personal, more deliberate, more coldly ferocious, in those large cities had been destroyed, and thousands of victims had clouds of monks who, issuing from all the convents of the perished by the sword, whilst thousands of others, driven order of Citeaux, spread themselves through the states of Eufrom their burning houses, were wandering in the woods and rope, occupied all the pulpits, appealed to all the passions to mountains, and sinking each day under the pressure of convert them into one, and showed how every vice might be want. Amongst the princes who had wished to maintain in expiated by crime, how remorse might be expelled by the their dominions a certain liberty of conscience, one had per- flames of their piles, how the soul, polluted with every shameished in prison, and had been replaced by the most pitiless ful passion, might become pure and spotless by bathing in of persecutors. Two others had submitted, and, to make the blood of heretics. After the conquest of the suspected their peace, refused not their tribute to the fires of the inqui-country had been accomplished, after peace had been granted sition, so that, every day, the church celebrated the sacrifice to the princes, and à safeguard to the submissive people, the of numerous human victims. monks of Citeaux continued, in every church, to preach a war

The ruin of so fair a country, the contrast between its for- of extermination, because they had done it with success in mer opulence and its present desolation, the remembrance of the preceding year, and because they were unwilling to reits fetes, of its tournaments, of the courts of love assembled linquish the honours and profits of their mission. By conin every castle, of the troubadours, the singers, the minstrels, tinuing to preach the crusade, when there were none to comvisiting by turns the lords and noble ladies, welcomed at their bat, they impelled, each year, waves of new fanatics upon arrival, loaded with presents at their departure, and the sight these miserable provinces; and they compelled their chiefs to of the fires for executions, of deserted villages, of burning recommence the war, in order to profit by the fervour of those houses, would soon have caused the fury of war to have been who still demanded human victims, and required blood to succeeded by a deep-felt pity, if any other cause than religi-effect their salvation. ous fanaticism had armed the hands of the crusaders.

1209. After the dsparture of the crusaders, towards the Those who had committed so many crimes were not, for end of the summer of 1209, the count Raymond VI of Touthe greater part, bad men. They came from that part of Bur-louse thought himself on the point of being reconciled to the gundy and northern France, where crimes have always been church, to which he had given sureties, and which he had rare, where long contentions, hatred and vengeance, are pas- served in the preceding campaign. The count of Foix had sions almost unknown-and where the unhappy are always made his peace with Simon de Montfort, who was endeavoursure to find compassion and aid. The crusaders themselves ing to establish himself in the viscounties of Carcassonne were always ready to afford each other proofs of generosity, and Beziers, at the same time that he was negociating with of support, and compassion; but the heretics were, in their Don Pedro, king of Aragon, then at Montpellier, to prevail eyes, outcasts from the human race. Accustomed to confide on him to receive his homage. The arrival of new crusaders, their consciences to their priests, to hear the orders of Rome conducted by Guy abbot of Vaux-Cernay, of the order of as a voice from heaven, never to submit that which apper- Citeaux, inspired Simon de Montfort with fresh courage. On tained to the faith to the judgment of reason, they congratu- one hand, he thought it time to throw away the mask with lated themselves on the horror they felt for the sectaries.- Raymond VI, count of Toulouse. He caused him to be exThe more zealous they were for the glory of God, the more communicated by the two legates, and laid all his territory ardently they laboured for the destruction of heretics, the bet- under an interdict, after which he began hostilities against ter Christians they thought themselves. And if at any time him. On the other hand, he caused the abbot of Eaulnes, they felt a movement of pity or terror, whilst assisting at who had made the peace between him and the count of Foix, their punishment, they thought it a revolt of the flesh, which to be assassinated; he then accused the count of this crime, they confessed at the tribunal of penitence; nor could they and declared all negociation between them to be at an end. get quit of their remorse, till their priests had given them ab-Simon de Montfort was, however, too eager in attacking new solution. Woe to the men whose religion is completely per- enemies before he had entirely subjugated the old. The king verted! All their most virtuous sentiments lead them astray. of Aragon, after amusing him with long negociations, peTheir zeal is changed into ferocity. Their humility consigns remptorily refused his homage, and would acknowledge no them to the direction of the impostors who conduct them. other viscount of Beziers and Carcassonne than Raymond Their very charity becomes sanguinary; they sacrifice those Trencavel, son of the last viscount, two years of age, who from whom they fear contagion, and they demand a baptism was then under the care of the count of Foix. At the same of blood, to save some elect to the Lord. time, he solicited the knights, who held from these two visBesides, never had more energetic means been employed to counties, to take arms for the son of their lord, promising confound the understanding and corrupt the human heart. them powerful succours. Towards the end of November, That is a very superficial, and a very false, judgment, which they all revolted, almost at the same time. Many of the condemns whole nations for the crimes committed in their bo- French, the creatures of Simon de Montfort, were surprised som. In proportion to the faithfulness of history, are the in the castles which they regarded as their conquest. Some horrors with which it charges all great societies of men; and became victims of the resentment excited in the country by if every thing were known, no nation would have much the cruelties of the crusaders; and at the end of the year, the wherewith to reproach another. Let no one, then, pride itself domination of Simon de Montfort in Languedoc was reduced because all has not been told concerning it. As to the perse-to eight cities or castles, whilst it had at first comprised more cution of the Albigenses, it was not the work of the French than two hundred.

alone. The Italian, Innocent III, first gave the signal, and Raymond VI, count of Toulouse, would have been afraid he also bestowed the recompense. He continually sharpened of compromising himself still more with the court of Rome, the sword of the murderers, by his legates and missionaries. if he had given any appearance of exciting these revolts, or The two Spaniards, the bishop of Ozma and Saint Dominic, of making common cause with the enemies of Simon de (the founders of the inquisition) first taught the art of seeking Montfort. Although Montfort had already commenced hosout, in the villages, those whom the priests were afterwards tilities against him, he judged it more expedient to repair to fasten to their stakes. The Germans, invited by their first the court of Philip Augustus, and afterwards to that of monks, came to take a part in this work, even from the ex- the pope, than to remain in his states, and defend them by tremities of Austria; and the English Matthew Paris renders open force. He arrived at Romé at the commencement of testimony to the zeal of his countrymen in the same cause, the year 1210, and addressed himself to the pope to obtain and to their triumphaut joy at the miracle (for so he called his absolution. He was prepared to make great concessions, the massacre of Beziers) which had avenged the Lord. that he might avoid the fate of his nephew, the viscount of But if we are bound to absolve large masses of men from Beziers. He thought no longer of defending his heretical the atrocities committed, in the name of religion, against the subjects; it was sufficient for him to shelter himself from the Albigenses, it would be to destroy the only responsibility ambition of Simon de Montfort, from the hatred of the legate,

Arnold, abbot of Citeaux, and from the sanguinary fury of overflow of waters, said he, turning his tears into derision, Fouquet, bishop of Toulouse, who would have gladly seen the they will not reach unto God; and he fulminated, in the half of the flock entrusted to his care perish on the scaffold. name of the church, an excommunication against the count of 1210. Innocent III found himself, at that time, in one of Toulouse. The council of St. Gilles did not assemble till those moments when he felt the power of the resistance he the end of September, and its rigour augmented in proportion was called upon to conquer, and too much accustomed to des- to the success obtained by Simon de Montfort in the course pise. He had elevated himself to universal monarchy, and of this same campaign. During the winter, Montfort had gave laws to the two empires of the cast and west. In that been reduced to stand upon the defensive, and revolts in same year he scolded the king of Portugal, and encouraged every part of the province had sufficiently proved to him how the king of Castille; he set himself as judge of the di- much his yoke was detested. But the monks of Citeaux had vorce of the king of Bohemia, and he incited the king of Den- recommenced the preaching of the crusade in the north of mark to take the cross. He had also just confirmed the France. There was, said they to those ferocious and superrule which St. Francis d'Assise had given to the fraternity, stitious warriors, no crime so dark, no vice so deeply rooted the most devoted to the holy see of all the orders of monks. in the heart, the very trace of which, a campaign of forty But, on the other hand, the emperor Otho IV, whom he re- days, in the south of France, would not obliterate. Paradise, garded as his creature, had just escaped from him, and incur- with all its glories, was opened for them, without the neces red excommunication by his resistance to the holy see. sity of purchasing it by any reformation in their conduct. John, the king of England, lived in open enmity with the Alice of Montmorency, Simon de Montfort's wife, undertook church. Philip Augustus had dared to seize upon the tem- the direction of the first army of crusaders, raised by the poralities of two bishops. A system of opposition to the monks. At the beginning of Lent, her husband came to meet pope appeared to be preparing in the Christian world, and, her at Pezenas, and no sooner fouud himself at the head of in spite of all his pride, Innocent III was too politic not to an imposing foroe than he gave full scope to his cruelty." temporize when occasion required. He attacked, in the first place, the castle of Lauraguais and

Whether Innocent proposed only to separate Raymond Minervois. The feudal state of independence had multiplied from his partisans, to inspire him with a deceitful confidence, these fortresses, and the smallest province was covered with and to gain time, as the most zealous amongst the orthodox citadels. They did not at all however appear to their poswriters affirm, or whether he really felt good will towards sessors capable of sustaining a siege; the terror which the the count of Toulouse, and was afterwards prevented from crusaders inspired caused a great number to be abandoned. pardoning him by his legates, who deceived him, as some Simon de Montfort generally caused all their inhabitants, writers the most disposed to tolerance have supposed, cer- whom he could lay hands upon, to be hanged upon gibbets. tain it is that he gave this prince a gracious reception. He Some castles, calculating too favourably upon their strength, released him, provisionally, from the excommunication pro- endeavoured to resist him; that of Brom was taken by asnounced against him, but referred him, for final absolution, to sault the third day of the siege, and Simon de Montfort chose a council which should assemble in the province three months out more than a hundred of its wretched inhabitants, and after the count's return. The purpose of this council was having torn out their eyes, and cut off their noses, sent them, only to judge whether Raymond was, or was not, guilty of in that state, under the guidance of a one-eyed man, to the heresy, and whether he had, or had not, prompted the mur- castle of Cabaret, to announce to the garrison of that fortress derer of the legate Peter of Castelnau. These were the two the fate which awaited them. The castle of Alairac was not accusations which exposed the count to the severest penal- taken till the eleventh day, and even then a great part of its ties; but on the other hand, they were those respecting inhabitants were able to escape from the ferocity of the cruwhich he felt himself the most innocent, and of which he was saders. Montfort massacred the remainder. Farther on he the most eager to purge himself. found castles abandoned and absolutely empty; and, not 1210. But the legate Arnold, abbot of Citeaux, joined to the being able to reach the men, he sent out his soldiers to desambitious zeal of the pope an inplacable hatred against count troy the surrounding vines and olive-trees. Raymond. He had summoned the council, to which Inno- 1210. Montfort afterwards conducted his army to a more cent III had referred the cause of the count, to meet at Saint important siege, that of the castle of Minerva, situated at a Gilles, but, before its assembling, new successes of Simon small distance from Narbonne, on a steep rock, surrounded de Montfort against the lords of the castles, who still de- by precipices, and regarded as the strongest place in the fended either the independence of their jurisdiction or that Gauls. This castle belonged to Guiraud of Minerva, vassal of their conscience, and new judicial massacres had inspired of the viscounts of Carcassone, and one of the bravest knights him with more confidence in the cause which he wished to of the province. The army of the crusaders appeared before see triumphant. Master Theodise, a canon of Genoa, whom Minerva, at the beginning of June; the legate Arnold, and the pope had sent to advise with the legate, had a secret con- the canon Theodise, joined it soon after. The inhabitants, ference with him at Toulouse. "He was," says Peter de among whom were many who had embraced the reform of Vaux-Cernay, "a circumspect man, prudent and very zealous the Albigenses, defended themselves with great valour for for the affairs of God, and he desired above all things to find seven weeks; but when, on account of the heats of summer, some pretext of right to refuse the count that opportunity of jus- the water began to fail in their cisterns, they demanded a tifying himself which Innocent had granted him. He agreed, capitulation. Guiraud came himself to the camp of the cruat last, with the abbot of Citeaux and the bishop of Riez, that saders, one day when the legate was absent, and agreed with he should seek some cause of dispute with the count, respect- Simon de Montfort on conditions for the surrender of the ing the accomplishment of some subordinate conditions place. But, as they were proceeding to execute them, the abbot which the pope had enjoined upon him, founding himself Arnold returned to the camp, and Montfort immediately deupon the words of the bull of Innocent III-We desire that clared that nothing which they had agreed upon could be considered as binding, till the legate had given his assent. When in fact, Raymond VI presented himself to the coun- At these words," says Peter de Vaux-Cernay, "the abbot cil of St. Gilles, to justify himself, and offered to establish, by was greatly afflicted. In fact, he desired that all the enemies indubitable proofs, that he had never participated in heresy, of Christ should be put to death, but he could not take upon and was a stranger to the murder of the legate, Peter of Cas- himself to condemn them, on account of his quality of monk telnau, Master Theodise stopped him, by declaring that he and priest." He thought, however, that he might stir up had not yet destroyed all the heretics of the county of Tou- some quarrel between the negociation, profit by it to break louse; that he had not yet suppressed all the tolls, whose the capitulation, and cause all the inhabitants to be put to abolition was demanded by the pope; that he had not yet the sword. For this purpose, he required the count on one abolished or restored all the collections, which his officers had part, and Guiraud of Minerva on the other, to put into writ made upon different convents; and since he had disobeyed ing, without communicating with each other, the conditions the orders of the church in smaller matters, they might con- on which they had agreed. As Arnold had flattered himself, clude that he would, the more certainly, have disobeyed in he found some difference in the statements, and Montfort the two crimes of which he was accused. Thus, the council, immediately availed himself of it, to declare, in the name of to prevent perjury either in himself or his witnesses, refused the legate, that the negociation was broken off. But the lord him the permission to clear himself of these two capital accu- of Minerva instantly replied, that, though he thought himself sations. When the count, who thought himself fully assured sure of his memory, yet he accepted the capitulation as that this day would establish his innocence, heard this unex-Simon de Montfort had drawn it up. One of the articles of pected declaration, he burst into tears. But Master Theodise this capitulation provided, that the heretics themselves, if remembered a passage of holy Scripture, by which to free they were converted, might quit the castle, and have their himself from feelings of humanity. How great soever be the lives saved. When the capitulation was read in the council

he execute our orders.

of war, "Robert of Mauvoisin," says the monk of Vaux- Whatever care the legates had taken, to prevent the count Cernay, "a nobleman, and entirely devoted to the catholic of Toulouse from justifying himself, Innocent III had not yet faith, cried, that the pilgrims would never consent to that; confirmed the sentence of excommunication, which had been that it was not to show mercy to the heretics, but to put them newly fulminated against him. So powerful a feudatory reto death, they had taken the cross; but the abbot Arnold quired to be treated with greater caution than had been used replied-fear not, for I believe there will be very few con- towards the inferior lords, who were, like him, accused of faverted." The legate was not deceived in this bloody hope. vouring the heretics. Philip Augustus had written to the The crusaders took possession of the castle of Minerva the pope to recommend him to his indulgence. Don Pedro, king 22d of July, 1210; they entered, singing Te Deum, and of Aragon, who had long since given his sister in marriage preceded by the cross and the standards of Montfort. The to Raymond VI, and had afterwards promised his own daughheretics were, in the mean time, assembled, the men in one ter to his son, having lost that daughter at an early age, had house, the women in another, and there, on their knees, and married, in the beginning of the year 1211, another of his resigned to their fate, they prepared themselves, by prayer, sisters, also named Sancha, to the young Raymond VII, and for the punishment which awaited them. The abbot, Guy thus strengthened still more the alliance which united him to de Vaux-Cernay, to fulfil the capitulation, came, and began this house. Simon de Montfort, whose fanaticism never preto preach to them the catholic faith; but his auditors inter- vented him from managing his temporal interests like a wily rupted him by a unanimous cry-"We will have none of politician, undertook to deprive the count of Toulouse of the your faith," said they, "we have renounced the church of support which he found in Spain, and, for this purpose, careRome: your labour is in vain; for neither death nor life will fully sought to gain the friendship of the king of Aragon. make us renounce the opinions that we have embraced." Pedro thought perhaps that by reconciling himself with MontThe abbot of Vaux-Cernay then passed to the assembly of fort, he might afterwards the more easily serve his two brothe women, but he found them as resolute, and more enthu- thers-in-law. He began therefore by receiving his homage siastic still in their declarations. The count of Montfort, in for the viscounties of Carcassonne, and of Beziers: afterhis turn, visited both. Already he had piled up an enormous wards he consented, by a strange and inexplicable arrangemass of dry wood: "Be converted to the catholic faith," ment, not only to betroth his son Don Jayme or James, to a said he to the assembled Albigenses, "or ascend this pile." daughter of Montfort, but to commit his only son, then three None were shaken. They set fire to the pile, which covered years of age, to that lord whom he disliked and distrusted. the whole square with a tremendous conflagration;-and the When Don Pedro took, in the beginning of the year 1211, heretics were then conducted to the place. But violence this strange resolution, he was impelled perhaps by one of was not necessary to compel them to enter the flames; they those fits of devotion which in that age deranged all the calvoluntarily precipitated themselves into them, to the number culations of policy; perhaps, he feared, for his French proof more than one hundred and forty, after having commended vinces, the attacks of those swarms of crusaders, whom he their souls to that God, in whose cause they suffered martyr-saw every year arrive, and was willing, at any price, to endom. Three women only, forcibly retained by the noble sure the friendship of their chief.

dame of Marly, mother of Bouchard, lord of Montmorenci, 1211. But neither the manœuvres of Montfort, with regard were saved from the flames; and terror and consternation to the count of Toulouse, nor his alliance with the king of succeeding to their enthusiastic fervor, they consented to be Aragon, was of long duration. Informed that the preachers converted. of the crusade, instead of growing cool, were inflamed by his

The capture of Minerva was quickly followed by the siege last success, and that the crusaders who would join him durof the castle of Termes, upon the frontiers of Roussillon. ing the year, would be more numerous than those of the years This castle was extremely strong, and commanded by a preceding, he prepared to second the hatred of the abbot of valiant captain, Raymond of Termes. He made a long re- Citeaux and the bishop Fouquet against the count of Tousistance, and tired the patience of the crusaders, who would louse, in the hope of joining the fine sovereignty of that willingly have granted an advantageous capitulation. As prince to his former conquests. He wished, however, to the pilgrims after a service of forty days, which was suffi- profit to the last by the weakness of Raymond, and by his cient to obtain the indulgences, quitted the army, Simon de desire to be reconciled to the church, and he awaited the result Montfort found himself, on many occasions, left with so of a citation of the legates, who had summoned him to appear, small a force, that he was on the point of raising the siege. about the middle of February, before a provincial council, But all the provinces of the Gauls, excited by the same fanati- which they were assembling at Arles. Count Raymond and cism, sent, in their turus, contingents to the sacred war. the king of Aragon attended there together, and were no sooner After the arrival of the bishops of Chartres and Beauvais, entered into the city, than they received orders not to quit it who had conducted thither the inhabitants of Orleanais, and without the permission of the council. A note containing the isle of France, and the counts of Dreux and Ponthieu thirteen articles was afterwards communicated to them, on followed by their vassals, there came in succession, Bretons, the reception and execution of which, the fathers of the Germans, and Lorrains. The strength of the beseiged sunk church announced that they would restore to the count of Touat last, after four months combats, under so many repeated louse, all his territories and lordships, when it should please attacks, and so much the more, as, having filled their cisterns the count of Montfort and the legate. Never was a more aba second time from the rains which fell during the great surd and insulting treaty proposed to a sovereign prince, who heats, numerous dysenteries, from that cause, prevailed was still in full possession of his states. Raymond VI was amongst them. During the night between the 22d and 23d required to dismiss all the soldiers armed for his defence; to of November, they attempted to escape by abandoning the rase all his fortifications; to exclude from the strong cities place. They did, indeed, pass the first entrenchments, and of his dominions all the knights who might serve for their dispersed themselves in the mountains, with the hope of defence; to renounce all the customs which formed the greatreaching Catalonia; but the moment their flight was per-er part of his revenue; to reduce all the inhabitants of his ceived, a general cry arose in the army. The crusaders states, both nobles and plebeians, to wear the dress of peniexhorted each other not to let those, who had cost them so tence, and submit to an abstinence almost monastical; to much sweat and blood, escape from punishment. The whole deliver to Simon de Montfort and the legate, at the first debody of the pilgrims followed the fugitives, the greater part mand, all those of their subjects whom they should require, of whom were overtaken, and killed on the spot; others that they might burn them according to their good pleasure: were conducted alive to Simon de Montfort. Of these, he in fine, to proceed himself to the Holy Land, to serve amongst spared Raymond, lord of Termes, and, instead of burning the hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem, until he was him, confined him at the bottom of a tower in Carcassonne, recalled by the legate. The indignation and surprise of count where he suffered him to languish for many years. Raymond and the king of Aragon, at reading these demands,

The taking of two such strong places as Minerva and was proportionable to their insolence. They had been prohiTermes made all the garrisons of the neighbouring castles lose bited from quitting Arles, but no precautions had been taken their courage; they dared no longer trust to their walls, and for retaining them in that city. They instantly set out, withthe army advancing into the Albigeois to the left of the Tarn out taking leave of the bishops, who, throwing off all disfound all the places deserted. By this means they occupied guise towards the count of Toulouse, excommunicated him the castles of Constasse, of Puyvert, of Lombers, and a great afresh, declared him an enemy to the church, and an aposnumber of others; but the miserable inhabitants were not tate from the faith, and abandoned his domains to the first able to save themselves by flight. They were followed into occupant.

the woods and mountains; the greater part perished there by We may be assured that these churchmen, when they the sword, and those that were brought prisoners to the camp showed themselves so arrogant and pitiless, were sensible of were burned for the edification of the army. the augmentation of their forces. In fact, the fanatic Fou

VOL. II.-3 G

quet, bishop of Toulouse, had been preaching the crusade in the Turks and the Grecks, and who had, in the East, acquir France with great success. It was at Toulouse, especially, ed the knowledge of the attack and defence of fortified places. that he wished to kindle the flames; it was in the flock which He employed, therefore, to overthrow the walls, ingenious God had confided to him that he wished, he said, to separate machines, whose introduction was quite recent amongst the the sheep from the goats. Many of those who attended on Latins, and which were as yet unknown to the inhabitants of his ministry, who conformed to all the laws of the church, the Pyrenees.

appeared to him either too lukewarm in their zeal, or suspi- The most fearful was that which was called the cat. A cious in their faith, and he wished to purify them by fire. moveable wooden tower, strongly constructed, was built out He succeeded in causing the bishop of Paris, Robert de of the reach of the besieged. When it was entirely covered Courtenay, count of Auxerre, Enguerrand de Coucy, Joel de with sheepskins, with the fur outwards to guard it from fire, Mayenne, and a great number of other French barons and and provided with soldiers at its openings, and on the platknights, to take the cross against the Albigenses. These, in form at its summit, it was moved on rollers to the foot of the the course of the same campaign, were followed by Leopold wall. Its side then opened, and an immense beam, armed duke of Austria, Adolphus count of Mons, and William count with iron hooks, projected like the paw of a cat, shook the of Juliers. The Holy Land was nearly abandoned by the wall by reiterated strokes, after the manner of the ancient western knights, since they could gain the same indulgences battering ram, and tore out and pulled down the stones which by these, as it were, domestic crusades. About the 10th of it had loosened. Simon de Montfort had constructed a cat, March, Simon de Montfort found himself at the head of a very but the wide ditches of Lavaur prevented him from bringing large army, with which he opened the campaign. it near enough to the walls. The crusaders, under the orders

His first attack was directed against the castle of Cabaret, of Montfort, laboured unceasingly to fill up the ditch, whilst which had hitherto braved all the threats of the crusaders: the inhabitants of Lavaur, who could descend into it by subbut long reverses had broken the spirit of the Albigenses. terranean passages, cleared away each night all that had been Peter Roger, lord of Cabaret, submitted voluntarily to Mont-thrown in during the day. At last Montfort succeeded in fillfort, and opened to him the gates of his fortress. His ex-ing the mines with flame and smoke, and thereby prevented ample was followed by the lords of many other castles, in the inhabitants from passing into them. The ditches were the mountains which separate the diocese of Carcassonne then speedily filled; the cat was pushed to the foot of the from that of Toulouse. It seemed to be the design of Mont-wall, and its terrible paw began to open and enlarge the fort to open to himself these passages, by treating the places breach.

with a humanity which he rarely exercised. The crusaders On the day of the finding of the holy cross, the 3d of May, then advanced as far as Lavaur on the Agout, five leagues 1211, Montfort judged the breach to be practicable. The from Toulouse. Lavaur, which was afterwards raised to the crusaders prepared for the assault. The bishops, the abbot rank of an episcopal city, was then only a strong castle. It of Courdieu, who exercised the functions of vice-legate, and belonged to a widow named Guiraude, whom her brother, all the priests clothed with their pontifical habits, giving Aimery de Montreal, had joined with eighty knights, after themselves up to the joy of seeing the carnage begin, sang having been despoiled by the crusaders of his own fiefs. the hymn Veni Creator. The knights mounted the breach. Aimery and Guiraude, as well as many of their defenders, Resistance was impossible; and the only care of Simon de professed the reform of the Albigenses. They had opened an Montfort was to prevent the crusaders from instantly falling asylum, within their walls, to those of the reformed who upon the inhabitants, and to beseech them rather to make were persecuted in the other parts of the province; so that prisoners, that the priests of the living God might not be detheir fortress, which was well stored with provisions, sur-prived of their promised joys. "Very soon," continues the rounded with strong walls, and girded with deep ditches, monk of Vaux-Cernay, "they dragged out of the castle Aimwas considered as one of the principal seats of heresy. This ery, lord of Montreal, and other knights to the number of consideration prevented count Raymond, who still courted eighty. The noble count immediately ordered them to be the church, from openly sending them assistance; but, he is hanged upon the gallows; but as soon as Aimery, the stoutest accused of having caused his seneschal to enter it secretly among them, was hanged, the gallows fell; for in their great with a body of knights. During this time, Fouquet return-haste they had not well fixed it in the earth. The count, ing to Toulouse had communicated his fanaticism to a part seeing that this would produce great delay, ordered the rest to of the inhabitants of that city. He told them that their mix-be massacred; and the pilgrims, receiving the order with the ture with the heretics rendered them an object of horror to all greatest avidity, very soon massacred them all upon the spot. Christians; and, that they might not be confounded with The lady of the castle, who was sister of Aimery, and an them, they should be the first to arm themselves against those execrable heretic, was, by the count's order, thrown into a of their fellow-citizens who had abandoned the catholic faith. pit, which was filled up with stones; afterwards our pilgrims He had enrolled them into a society which named itself, the collected the innumerable heretics that the castle contained, White Company, and engaged to destroy the heretics by fire and burned them alive with the utmost joy.” and sword. Having thus inflamed their zeal, he sent five thousand of these fanatics to the siege of Lavaur.

Open hostilities had not yet commenced between Simon de Montfort and the count of Toulouse, but they followed imWhilst this siege was going on, count Raymond made mediately on the taking of Lavaur. The refusal to send proone more attempt at reconciliation with the legate and Simon visions to the besiegers might serve as a pretext, but none de Montfort; but all his offers having been rejected, he saw, was wanted for attacking those who were excommunicated. at last, that a more vigorous conduct was his only resource; The castle of Montjoyre was the first place, immediately beand upon this he ought doubtless, long since, to have deter-longing to the count of Toulouse, before which the crusaders mined, if so much resolution had belonged to his character. presented themselves; and being abandoned, it was burned He formed a close alliance with the counts of Cominges and rased from top to bottom by the soldiers of the church. and of Foix; with Gaston, viscount of Bearn; Savary de The castle of Cassero afforded them more satisfaction, as it Mauleon, seneschal of Aquitaine, and the other lords of those furnished human victims for their sacrifices. It was surprovinces, who were accused of tolerance or of heresy, and rendered on capitulation; and the pilgrims seizing nearly sixty whose interests were become one with his own. These lords, heretics, burned them with infinite joy. This is always the informed that the German body of crusaders, from the duke phrase employed by the monk, who was the witness and the of Austria, and the counts of Mons and Juliers, had advanced panegyrist of the crusade. A great number of castles were as far as Montjoyre, between the Tarn and the Garronne, and afterwards either surrendered to the crusaders or abandoned; that it was marching to the siege of Lavaur, six thousand and these crusaders finding themselves, about the middle of strong, detached a chosen body of troops, under the command June, reinforced by a new army from Germany, undertook of the count of Foix, of his son, and of Guiraud de Pepieux, the siege of Toulouse.

who laid in ambush for the Germans, and cut them in pieces This city was very far from having been converted to the before Simon de Montfort could come to their assistance. On reformation of the Albigenses; the catholics still formed the the other side count Raymond had prohibited all his subjects greater number. But their consuls refused either to renounce from carrying provisions to the camp of the crusaders, who their fidelity to their count, though he had been excommuniwere thereby reduced to great extremities. But they were cated, or to deliver up to punishment those of their citizens commanded by a chief, as much superior to the other captains who were suspected of inclining towards the new opinions. by his skill and prudence, as he outdid the rest of the fanatics The bishop Fouquet had succeeded in forming in the city an by his cold ferocity. Simon de Montfort had profited by all association, named the white company, who engaged to purthe progress which the art of war had made in that age. sue the heretics unto death. This company, by its own He had himself served in the Holy Land, and there were in authority, erected a tribunal, before which it carried those his camp a great number of knights who had combated against whose faith it suspected, with those whose conduct it a

ensed, or against whom it alleged usurious loans. It after- had long aecused the bishops of lukewarmness, or indifferwards executed its own judgments by open force, by the ence to the triumphs of the church, and had solicited their destruction and pillage of their houses. The partisans of destitution. This they at last obtained, in the year 1212, tolerance very soon formed a counter association, which they either from the pope or from the timidity of the persecuted called the black company; the two troops frequently came to prelates themselves. Bernard Raymond de Rochefort, bishop arms in the streets, with ensigns displayed; and many towers of Carcassonne, consented to give in his resignation; and which belonged to one side or the other, were alternately be- Guy, abbot of Vaux-Cernay, was invested with his bishopric. sieged. Thus," continues master William Puylaurens, (a It is not know whether Berenger, archbishop of Narbonne, contemporary historian), "did our Lord, by the ministry of escaped by death from the persecutions which he had so long his servant the bishop, instead of a bad peace, excite amongst suffered, or whether he was deposed; but Arnold Amalric, them a good war." abbot of Citeaux, and chief of all the legations to the Albi

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But whilst the bishop was endeavouring to kindle war genses, took possession of this archbishopric. Amongst the amongst his flock, the count was labouring to restore peace bishops of his province, who assisted at his consecration, two amongst his subjects. At the return of the five thousand men others were taken from that order of Citeaux, which had of the white company, who had been at the siege of Lavaur, preached and conducted the crusade. The abbot Arnold did he represented to them that their dissentions would bring not, however, content himself with the spiritual dignity which ruin on their country; that an attack of the crusaders would he acquired, as the fruit of his labours for the extirpation of involve them all in one common destruction; and that, what-heresy. To the archiepiscopal throne of Narbonne, and to ever might be their differences of opinion, they ought to re- the rich revenues of that metropolitan see, he resolved also pair their walls, and prepare for their defence, if they would to join the ducal crown. The count of Toulouse bore, at the not expose themselves to the hazard of being put to the sword. same time, the title of duke of Narbonne, and the viscount of He succeeded in producing a reconciliation between the two that same city was his vassal, and owed him homage. The companies, and the legate took occasion from it to subject all abbot Arnold, in excommunicating Raymond VI, had abanthe Toulousians to a sentence of excommunication. On his doned his states to the first occupant, and he had taken care, part, the bishop Fouquet recalled his clergy, that he might in consequence, to be the first to occupy the duchy of Narsave his priests from that punishment to which he destined bonne. He had taken possession of the arbishopric on the the remainder of his flock. All the priests of Toulouse, with 12th of March, 1212, and on the 13th he demanded homage the provost of the cathedral at their head, quitted the city, of the viscount of Narbonne, and an oath of fidelity. barefoot, carrying the holy sacrament in the procession, and The fanaticism and cruelty of a monk were more easily singing litanies. However, the Toulousians did not at that pardoned, in that age, than the cupidity which induced him time suffer the fate to which their pastors destined them. Ray- to seize upon the spoils of him whom he had persecuted. mond VI, seconded by the counts of Foix and of Cominges, The monks of Citeaux began to sink in the estimation of the so incommoded the besiegers by frequent sallies, killed so people, when it appeared that they had shed so much blood many of them, and made them so soon endure privations and only for the opportunity of gaining possession of those episfamine, that Simon de Montfort was obliged to raise the siege copal sees which they coveted. Perhaps the legate, Arnold on the 29th of June, and soon afterwards saw himself aban- Amalric, who, by this conduct, had highly offended Simon de doned by the greater part of the crusaders, whose time of Montfort, and had dissolved that intimate union which had service had expired. hitherto subsisted between those two ferocious men, endeav

To efface the remembrance of this check, Simon de Mont-oured to cause this symptom of ambition to be forgotten, by fort extended his ravages into the county of Foix, which he rendering new services to the church; or perhaps he might desolated with fire and slaughter. He then passed into be drawn, by his enthusiasm alone, to a new crusade, differQuercy, the lordship of which he compelled the inhabitants ent from that which he had hitherto preached. Be this as it to give him. But at the same time the count of Toulouse, may, he had scarcely taken possession of the arbishopric of having collected succours from all his allies, came in his turn Narbonne before he passed into Spain, to aid the kings of to besiege Castelnaudary. He appeared before that city to- Castille, of Aragon, and of Navarre, against Mehemed-elwards the end of September, with the counts of Foix and of Nasir, king of Morocco.

Cominges, the viscount of Béarn, and Savary de Mauléon. This Emir-al-Mumenim had been called into Spain by the Although the crusaders were reduced to an inferiority of victories of the Christian kings over the Moors of Andalusia. number, Simon de Montfort did not abandon the besieged. A massulman crusade had been preached in Africa: innumeHe shut himself up in their walls, with a chosen troop of his rable swarms of warriors had crossed the strait of Cadiz; and old companions in arms, who did not exceed one hundred the victory of the Moors at Alarcos, on the 18th of July, knights. At the same time he solicited his lieutenants, his 1195, had given them a prodigious ascendency over the Chrisvassals and his wife, to collect all the soldiers who were at tians. After losing many provinces, Alphonso IX, of Castille, their disposal, and march to his deliverance; but as soon as had been obliged to demand an armistice; but this truce exhis fortune began to waver, the hatred he had excited through pired in 1212. The fanaticism of the Almohadans, who had the country broke out in every part, and those upon whom he annihilated the African church, gave reason to apprehend the had reckoned the most declared against him. His marsechal entire extirpation of Christianity from Spain. Innocent III Guy de Levis, and his brother-in-law, Bouchard de Marli, or had therefore granted the preaching of a new crusade, to Montmorency, succeeded at last in collecting a numerous succour the Spaniards. The abbot Arnold, archbishop of body of knights from the diocesses of Narbonne, Carcassonne Narbonne, was not the only Gallic prelate who passed the and Beziers. These were crusaders, who, like Montfort, had Pyrenees; the archbishop of Bourdeaux and the bishop of gained establishments in the country, and who saw that with- Nantes arrived also at Toledo, and with them a considerable out an effort of valour their conquests would be lost. The number of barons, knights and pilgrims, from Aquitaine, valiant count of Foix intercepted them about a league from France and Italy. This multitude, rendered ferocious by the Castelnaudary, attacked and dispersed them two several war against the Albigenses, distinguished itself, however, times, but his troops having broken their ranks to pillage the only by the massacre of the Jews of Toledo, which it effected, vanquished, were attacked anew either by another body of notwithstanding the efforts of the noble Castillians to protect the crusaders or by Montfort himself, who at the head of them; and by its earnestness to put to death the Moorish sixty knights had sallied from Castelnaudary, and were in garrison of Calatrava, in contempt of the capitulation. The their turn put to the rout. In spite of this success, in spite French crusaders afterwards pretended that they could no of the arrival of Alain de Rouci, a French knight, with a fresh longer support the heat of the Spanish climate, and they rebody of crusaders, the affairs of Simon de Montfort continued tired before the terrible battle of Navas de Tolosa, fought on to decline to the end of the year. The count of Toulouse the 16th of July, 1212. This battle saved the Christians of reconquered all the strong places of Albigeois, and in more Spain, and overturned the power of the Almohadans. than fifty castles the inhabitants eagerly expelled or massacred their French garrisons, to surrender themselves to their ancient lord.

The crusade against the Moors of Spain occasioned but a short interruption to that against the Albigenses. During the winter, Simon de Montfort had been reduced to the small The hatred against the crusaders which seemed rooted in number of knights attached to his fortunes; but, at the same the hearts of all the inhabitants of the country, and of all time, the monks of Citeaux had recommenced their preachwho spoke the provençal language, gave occasion to the ing, throughout all Christendom, with more ardour than ever; legates, the vice-legates, the monks of Citeaux, and to all and the expedition against the Albigenses, to which, accordthat ecclesiastical council which hitherto had directed the ing to their assurances, such high celestial favours were atcrusade, to announce that it was time to complete the regen-tached, was, nevertheless, so short and so easy, that the army eration of the country, by changing the secular clergy. They of the crusaders was renewed, four times in the course of the