One of the things I love about my web platform is that I can get a statistical analysis of the posts that get the most hits.
Quite a few years ago I posted a historical note about the crusade against the Cathars or Albigensians by the Catholic Church and the utter decimation of the society of the Languedoc in southwestern France. This occurred in the 12th and 13th century and led to the establishment of the Inquisition.
The catalyst behind the Inquisition was Dominic de Guzman or as the Catholics would refer to him, St. Dominic. The Inquisition started its diabolical methods of cruelty against the Cathars first, and then they swung into Spain.
What is amazing to me is that, after all these years, this blog post has consistently remained a favorite.
Why?
First of all, it casts the Catholic Church in a pretty bad light, but so has much of history. That's not the reason for the popularity of this post.
The Albigensian crusade was the first crusade of Christians against Christians and it was an overt tool used by the church to crush the Cathars, or the Pure Ones, who believed in a pure Gnosis, or direct revelation without the need for intercessors, or priests. The Cathars believed the church to be utterly evil and dominated by the god of evil. We might call them the "black hats" today.
But what is also interesting about the Languedoc is that it is rife with stories about the Magdalene. I traveled there to research my first novel, one that begins a re-write soon.
One of the most infamous acts of the church during this crusade was the murder of all townspeople, about 20,000 souls, in Beziers on the feast day of Mary Magdalene, July 22. This included 7000 who had taken refuge inside a church dedicated to her. This attack was led by the head of the Cistercian order. When asked by his generals how they should distinguish between the Cathars and the Catholics, he said "Kill them all, God will know his own."
The mysteries of the Cathars have never disappeared. The church was unable to silence them, that was their illusion. For my part, now that this blog post is getting consistent hits, I am going to turn my attention back to this era once again.
As a refresher for my re-write.
Quite a few years ago I posted a historical note about the crusade against the Cathars or Albigensians by the Catholic Church and the utter decimation of the society of the Languedoc in southwestern France. This occurred in the 12th and 13th century and led to the establishment of the Inquisition.
The catalyst behind the Inquisition was Dominic de Guzman or as the Catholics would refer to him, St. Dominic. The Inquisition started its diabolical methods of cruelty against the Cathars first, and then they swung into Spain.
What is amazing to me is that, after all these years, this blog post has consistently remained a favorite.
Why?
First of all, it casts the Catholic Church in a pretty bad light, but so has much of history. That's not the reason for the popularity of this post.
The Albigensian crusade was the first crusade of Christians against Christians and it was an overt tool used by the church to crush the Cathars, or the Pure Ones, who believed in a pure Gnosis, or direct revelation without the need for intercessors, or priests. The Cathars believed the church to be utterly evil and dominated by the god of evil. We might call them the "black hats" today.
But what is also interesting about the Languedoc is that it is rife with stories about the Magdalene. I traveled there to research my first novel, one that begins a re-write soon.
One of the most infamous acts of the church during this crusade was the murder of all townspeople, about 20,000 souls, in Beziers on the feast day of Mary Magdalene, July 22. This included 7000 who had taken refuge inside a church dedicated to her. This attack was led by the head of the Cistercian order. When asked by his generals how they should distinguish between the Cathars and the Catholics, he said "Kill them all, God will know his own."
The mysteries of the Cathars have never disappeared. The church was unable to silence them, that was their illusion. For my part, now that this blog post is getting consistent hits, I am going to turn my attention back to this era once again.
As a refresher for my re-write.