William of Tudela, Song of the Cathar Wars
Summary
This document is a first hand account of the motivations and for and consequences of the Albigensian Crusade in the 13th century. In short, the south of France was a region governed autonomously by regional nobles, they were related to the northern nobles but differed in that they held far lesser allegiance to the church. The southerners began to vary in their beliefs, straying from the unified ideology of the Christian church. Pope Innocent III felt threatened that their discrepancy of belief would lead to the church’s inability to rule over the region, and was impelled to do all he can to control the heretics. First the church tried old school evangelizing, but once the southerners murdered Peter of Castelnau, a papal legate, war ensued to force the south to subordinate not only under the control of the north, but of the church.
Analysis
Pope Innocent III called this crusade as an excuse to claim more land for and subordinate southern rulers under the power of the Christian church. To gain the cooperation of French nobles and clergymen, the pope advertised this military move as one in the name of God, that this was a religious campaign to right the disbelieving values of southern heresy. Philip II, King of northern France, was accurate in his distrust of Innocent III’s claims. Although the crusade was superficially successful when “the boundaries of France were extended on the south to the Mediterranean Sea,” France “eventually emerged as a powerful rival to Papacy” as a result of the secular states ruled by nobles in southern and northern France uniting in their distrust and realization of church manipulation (Volz 139).
The church strategized by not calling war from the start and tried to reason with the heretics through peaceful (although domineering) evangelizing. When William of Tudela notes how in hindsight “it cannot be otherwise” in reference to the eventual onslaught of war, it can be assumed that the pope always intended to achieve his way through force. The murder of his legate gave them legitimate means to call the crusade, but I’m sure he would have found another scapegoat had Peter returned alive and well after an unsuccessful bought of proselytizing. Pope Innocent III also called a council of nobles to gain their support in the crusade, resulting conveniently in the French nobles actually making up “a bulk of the crusading force.”
Although the support of King Philip II himself did not align with the church’s endeavors, there were plenty of northern nobles willing to exert their force over the southerners. The success of the church’s crusade would not have been possible without the support of the northern nobles. In a similar manner, the Count of Toulouse (a high southern noble) eventually turned to the church’s support once it was obvious the south was overpowered, he gave up his defenses as a political move; it wasn’t that his religious ideals now aligned with those of the dominant beliefs of the church, he wanted to keep as many of his southern French citizens alive and stop the warring north.