![The Cathars: The Most Successful Heresy of the Middle Ages](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/f/748/256/9781560256748.IN.0.m.jpg)
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different
The Cathars: The Most Successful Heresy of the Middle Ages Paperback - 2005
by Martin, Sean
- New
- Paperback
Description
New
NZ$172.03
NZ$9.09
Shipping to USA
Standard delivery: 2 to 21 days
More Shipping Options
Standard delivery: 2 to 21 days
Ships from GridFreed LLC (California, United States)
Details
- Title The Cathars: The Most Successful Heresy of the Middle Ages
- Author Martin, Sean
- Binding Paperback
- Edition First Printing
- Condition New
- Pages 256
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Thunder's Mouth Press, New York, New York, U.S.A.
- Date 2005-04-07
- Bookseller's Inventory # Q-1560256745
- ISBN 9781560256748 / 1560256745
- Weight 0.35 lbs (0.16 kg)
- Dimensions 7.48 x 5.46 x 0.55 in (19.00 x 13.87 x 1.40 cm)
- Dewey Decimal Code 273.6
About GridFreed LLC California, United States
Biblio member since 2021
We sell primarily non-fiction, many new books, some collectible first editions and signed books. We operate 100% online and have been in business since 2005.
Summary
Catharism was the most successful heresy of the Middle Ages. Flourishing principally in the Languedoc and Italy, the Cathars taught that the world is evil and must be transcended through a simple life of prayer, work, fasting and non-violence. They believed themselves to be the heirs of the true heritage of Christianity going back to apostolic times, and completely rejected the Catholic Church and all its trappings, regarding it as the Church of Satan; Cathar services and ceremonies, by contrast, were held in fields, barns and in people’s homes. Finding support from the nobility in the fractious political situation in southern France, the Cathars also found widespread popularity among peasants and artisans. And again unlike the Church, the Cathars respected women, and women played a major role in the movement. Alarmed at the success of Catharism, the Church founded the Inquisition and launched the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate the heresy. While previous Crusades had been directed against Muslims in the Middle East, the Albigensian Crusade was the first Crusade to be directed against fellow Christians, and was also the first European genocide. With the fall of the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in 1244, Catharism was largely obliterated, although the faith survived into the early fourteenth century. Today, the mystique surrounding the Cathars is as strong as ever, and Sean Martin recounts their story and the myths associated with them in this lively and gripping book.
First line
It was the Feast Day of St Mary Magdalene, 22 July 1209, and an all-out massacre had not been planned.