‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade

This paper contributes new evidence and a new perspective to the study of the religious heresy known as Waldensianism in the high-medieval Languedoc, and its relationship to both orthodox authority and the ‘Cathar’ heresy. Although they were outlawed by Rome in 1184, Waldensians were operating openl...

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Main Author: Taylor, Claire
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oxford University Press 2018
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53507/
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author Taylor, Claire
author_facet Taylor, Claire
author_sort Taylor, Claire
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper contributes new evidence and a new perspective to the study of the religious heresy known as Waldensianism in the high-medieval Languedoc, and its relationship to both orthodox authority and the ‘Cathar’ heresy. Although they were outlawed by Rome in 1184, Waldensians were operating openly in the Cathar lands pertaining to the viscounts of Béziers and the counts of Toulouse and Foix-with clerical complicity. This was until the Albigensian Crusade (1209-29). Its northern French army attacked Cathars and their noble supporters, but began executing Waldensians too. This paper offers a precise chronology and demography for these processes of toleration and persecution. For the first time, it reveals that from 1209, Waldensian refugees re-located beyond the warzone, fleeing to the County of Rodez, the north of the County of Quercy, and the Duchy of Gascony, and were no longer to be found in the Cathar heartlands. In doing this, it sheds light on the wider process of suppressing minority religious groups in the high middle ages, particularly their social and geographical dislocation and assimilation. It also contributes to the related historiographical debate concerning the nature of heresy in medieval Languedoc more generally.
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spelling nottingham-535072020-09-07T04:30:10Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53507/ ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade Taylor, Claire This paper contributes new evidence and a new perspective to the study of the religious heresy known as Waldensianism in the high-medieval Languedoc, and its relationship to both orthodox authority and the ‘Cathar’ heresy. Although they were outlawed by Rome in 1184, Waldensians were operating openly in the Cathar lands pertaining to the viscounts of Béziers and the counts of Toulouse and Foix-with clerical complicity. This was until the Albigensian Crusade (1209-29). Its northern French army attacked Cathars and their noble supporters, but began executing Waldensians too. This paper offers a precise chronology and demography for these processes of toleration and persecution. For the first time, it reveals that from 1209, Waldensian refugees re-located beyond the warzone, fleeing to the County of Rodez, the north of the County of Quercy, and the Duchy of Gascony, and were no longer to be found in the Cathar heartlands. In doing this, it sheds light on the wider process of suppressing minority religious groups in the high middle ages, particularly their social and geographical dislocation and assimilation. It also contributes to the related historiographical debate concerning the nature of heresy in medieval Languedoc more generally. Oxford University Press 2018-09-15 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53507/1/Shorter%20Version%20for%20publication.pdf Taylor, Claire (2018) ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade. French History, 32 (3). pp. 327-349. ISSN 0269-1191 https://academic.oup.com/fh/article/32/3/327/5091977 doi:10.1093/fh/cry065 doi:10.1093/fh/cry065
spellingShingle Taylor, Claire
‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade
title ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade
title_full ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade
title_fullStr ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade
title_full_unstemmed ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade
title_short ‘Sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: Southern French Waldensians and the Albigensian crusade
title_sort ‘sunt quadraginta anni vel circa’: southern french waldensians and the albigensian crusade
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53507/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53507/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53507/