The Perfect Heresy
"At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians, thrived across what is now the Languedoc in southern France but was then a patchwork of city-states and principalities beholden to neither king nor bishop. The Cathars held revolutionary beliefs that threatened the authority of the Catholic Church as well as the legitimacy of feudal law: They thought the idea of Hell to be a sham; they rejected all sacraments, including marriage; they thought private property an absurd notion and that all things worldly were corrupt; and they gave women religious status equal to men.". "Supported by the leading nobility of the region, the Cathars' growing influence enraged the Church and its powerful pope, Innocent III, determined to flex its muscle after decades of weakness. Innocent resolved to eradicate what is now known as the Great Heresy. He recruited the forces of France, eager to expand her territory to the south, and they systematically exterminated the Cathars and their supporters in a series of crusades between 1209 and 1229. By the time the wars were over, the ancient social fabric of the Languedoc had been destroyed, the map of France redrawn, and a terrifying new force that would torment Europe for centuries - the Inquisition - unleashed across southern France.". "The Perfect Heresy eloquently chronicles the life and death of the Cathar movement - one of Western civilization's most mind-boggling tales. Full of colorful and passionate personalities, it brings long-ago events to life and sheds new light on the thirteenth century and on the timelessness of religious intolerance."--BOOK JACKET.