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The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in the south of France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political flavour, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown and diminishing the distinct regional culture and high level of influence of the Counts of Barcelona. The medieval Christian sect of the Cathars, against whom the crusade was directed, originated from a reform movement within the Bogomil churches of Dalmatia and Bulgaria calling for a return to the Christian message of perfection, poverty and preaching. Their theology was basically dualist.〔( Frank Leslie Cross, Elizabeth A. Livingstone (editors), ''Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church'' (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3), article "Cathari" )〕 They became known as the Albigensians, because there were many adherents in the city of Albi and the surrounding area in the 12th and 13th centuries.〔(Merriam-Webster Dictionary: Albigenses )〕 Between 1022 and 1163, they were condemned by eight local church councils, the last of which, held at Tours, declared that all Albigenses "should be imprisoned and their property confiscated", and by the Third Council of the Lateran of 1179.〔(Weber, Nicholas. "Albigenses." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 14 Oct. 2013 )〕 Innocent III's diplomatic attempts to roll back Catharism〔VC Introduction: The historical background〕 met with little success. After the murder of his legate, Pierre de Castelnau, in 1208, Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars. He offered the lands of the Cathar heretics to any French nobleman willing to take up arms. After initial successes, the French barons faced a general uprising in Languedoc which led to the intervention of the French royal army. The Albigensian Crusade also had a role in the creation and institutionalization of both the Dominican Order and the Medieval Inquisition. ==Origin== By the 12th century, organized groups of dissidents, such as the Waldensians and Cathars, were beginning to appear in the towns and cities of newly urbanized areas. In western Mediterranean France, one of the most urbanized areas of Europe at the time, the Cathars grew to represent a popular mass movement,〔VC §5〕 and the belief was spreading to other areas. Relatively few believers took the ''consolamentum'' to become full Cathars, but the movement attracted many followers and sympathisers. The theology of the Cathars was dualistic, a belief in two equal and comparable transcendental principles; God, the force of good, and Satan, or the demiurge, the force of evil. They held that the physical world was evil and created by this demiurge, which they called ''Rex Mundi'' (Latin, "King of the World"). Rex Mundi encompassed all that was corporeal, chaotic and powerful. The Cathar understanding of God was entirely disincarnate: they viewed God as a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the God of love, order and peace. Jesus was an angel with only a phantom body, and the accounts of him in the New Testament were to be understood allegorically. As the physical world and the human body were the creation of the evil principle, sexual abstinence (even in marriage) was encouraged.〔〔(Peter Lock, ''The Routledge Companion to the Crusades'' (Routledge 2013 ISBN 978-1-13513137-1), pp. 162-164 )〕〔(Helen J. Nicholson, ''The Crusades'' (Greenwood Publishing Group 2004 ISBN 978-0-31332685-1), pp. 54-56 )〕〔The Voice of Pleasure: Heterosexuality Without Women by Anne Callahan. p. 32 ()〕 Civil authority had no claim on a Cathar, since this was the rule of the physical world. Deriving from earlier varieties of gnosticism, Cathar theology found its greatest success in the Languedoc. The Cathars were known as Albigensians because of their association with the city of Albi, and because the 1176 Church Council which declared the Cathar doctrine heretical was held near Albi.〔Mosheim, Johann Lorenz. ''Mosheim's Institutes of Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern'' 385 (W. Tegg 1867) ()〕〔See also the Third Lateran Council, 1179〕 In Languedoc, political control was divided among many local lords and town councils.〔cf Graham-Leigh〕 Before the crusade there was little fighting in the area and a fairly sophisticated polity. Western Mediterranean France itself was at that time divided between the Crown of Aragon and the county of Toulouse. On becoming Pope in 1198, Innocent III resolved to deal with the Cathars and sent a delegation of friars to the province of Languedoc to assess the situation. The Cathars of Languedoc were seen as not showing proper respect for the authority of the French king or the local Catholic Church, and their leaders were being protected by powerful nobles,〔VC §8-9〕 who had clear interest in independence from the king. One of the most powerful, Count Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse openly supported the Cathars and their independence movement. He refused to assist the delegation. He was excommunicated in May 1207 and an interdict was placed on his lands. The senior papal legate, Pierre de Castelnau, seen as responsible for these actions, was killed and his death was attributed to supporters of the count.〔 This brought down more penalties on Count Raymond, but he soon agreed to reconcile with the Church and the excommunication was lifted. At the Council of Avignon (1209) Raymond was again excommunicated for not fulfilling the conditions of ecclesiastical reconciliation.〔 King Philip II of France decided to act against those nobles who permitted Catharism within their lands and undermined secular authority. Though the actual crusade lasted only two months, the internal conflict between the north and the south of France continued for some twenty years. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Albigensian Crusade」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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