Dualist heresy in Aquitaine and the Agenais, c.1000-c.1249. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

317 Pages·2017·17.58 MB·English

by  Christine Middleton

Dualist heresy in
Aquitaine and the Agenais,
c.lOOO - c.1249
by Claire Taylor, BA (Hons), MA
Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy, July 1999.
Contents
.
Abstract ............................................................................. .
............................... 1V
Acknowledgements ................................................................... " ............................... v
Abbreviations ........................................................................................................... vii
Genealogies ............................................................................................................. xii
The dukes of Aquitaine (simplified genealogy) ...................................................... xii
The Gascon ducal family (simplified genealogy stressing secular titles) ................. xiii
The counts ofToulouse/Agen and Toulouse (simplified genealogy) ...................... xiv
Maps ........................................................................................................................ xv
A .. d h L d . hinF .
qUltame an t e angue oc WIt ranee m c.1154 ........................................... xv
The Agenais, Quercy and Perigord lIth-13th centuries ........................................ xvi
The Agenais by c.1249 ......................................................................................... xvii
Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................. 1
PART I: The duchy and dualism, c.1000 to the mid-twelfth century ......................... 10
Chapter 2: Aquitaine and the Agenais, c.1000-c.1152 ............................................... 11
i. The counts ofPoitou and Aquitainian society, to c.I060 ................................... 11
Ducal authority over the Aquitainian nobility ..................................................... 11
Aquitainian religious institutions and the laity ..................................................... 15
Castellans and the rural poor: Mutation au ajustement? ..................................... 19
The Millennium and popular religiosity .............................................................. 28
The Peace of God: Church and lay authority in alliance ...................................... 32
ii. Gascony under the Basques to c.1 060 ............................................................... 36
The Basque dukes and bishops of Gascony ........................................................ 36
The structure of lay authority ............................................................................. 42
Religious enthusiasm in the Gascon population .................................................. 44
iii. The duchy of Aquitaine c.1060 to c.1152 ......................................................... 45
The assimilation of Gascony into Aquitaine and the power of the dukes within lay
society ............................................................................................................... 45
Major religious movements in Aquitaine: Church refonn and the powerful, the
Truce of God, the early crusades, and monastic revival ...................................... 50
iv. The Agenais, to c.1152 .................................................................................... 55
The ancient and early-medieval Agenais ............................................................. 55
Gascon rule ....................................................................................................... 58
Toulousain and Poitevin influences in the eleventh and twelfth centuries ............ 60
The religious life of the Agenais ......................................................................... 61
Conclusion: The Agenais and the Languedoc ..................................................... 64
Chapter 3: Heresy in Aquitaine, c.l 000-c.1152 ......................................................... 66
i. The Millennia! Years to c.1 050 .......................................................................... 66
Aquitainian heretics and the historians ................................................................ 66
Dualist heresy in the Balkans ............................................................................. 67
Possible problems with the western evidence ...................................................... 70
Evidence for heresy in Aquitaine ........................................................................ 73
The major sources for heresy in Aquitaine ...................................................... 73
Incidents of heresy in Aquitaine ...... " .............................................................. 76
Dualism elsewhere in France, the Low Countries and Gennany ...................... ' ... 85
1
The view of accusers that the heresy was eastern, transmitted via Italy, and was
dualist ................................................................................................................ 89
Communication between eastern and western Europe ........................................ 92
Conclusion: Bogomils in Aquitaine .................................................................... 99
ii. Heresy in Aquitaine c.l050-c.1150 .................................................................. 102
The context of eastern and western European movements ............................... 102
The context of heresy in the east ...................................................................... 103
Dualism in the west before the foundation of the Cathar churches, to the 1140s .
........................................................................................................................ 105
Conclusion: non-dualist heretics and their activity in Aquitaine as a background to
Catharism . ....... .. .. .. . . . . .. .. .... .. .. ... . . . .. .. . . . . . . ... .. . . . ... . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... . . .. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 108
P ART II: Aquitaine and the Agenais in the period of Catharis~ the Albigensian Wars
and the Inquisition, the mid-twelfth century to c.1249 ............................................ 112
Chapter 4: Aquitaine and its Cathars, 1152-1207. ................................................... 113
i. The duchy of Aquitaine .................................................................................... 113
Catharism and Aquitaine.................................................................................. 113
The duchy of Aquitaine in Europe .................................................................... 117
Angevin power over Aquitaine ..................................................................... 117
The dukes of Aquitaine and their southern neighbours: Toulouse, Aragon and
Castile.. . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 121
Aquitainian society 'hors du Catharisme'.......................................................... 124
The Languedoc and Aquitaine as Occitan neighbours .................................... 124
The Aquitainian laity: a more conservative body of opinion ........................... 130
Aquitainian Catholicism: meeting the challenge of dissent and reform ........... 135
ii. The Agenais and its Cathars ............................................................................ 138
The Agenais .................................................................................................... 138
The highest authorities in the Agenais ........................................................... 138
Identity and diversity in the Agenais ............................................................. 139
The urbanised right bank of the Garonne ...................................................... 142
The towns and nobles of the Lot and the Lot-Garonne confluence ................ 143
South of the Garonne ................................................................................... 146
The orthodox religious life and the allies of the bishop.................................. 147
The Cathar diocese of Agen ............................................................................. 149
The origins of the Cathar diocese .................................................................. 149
The Cathars of the Agenais and those of Bas-Quercy .................................... 152
The Agenais: a heresy of castellans ............ . ... ... ... . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..... . . . . . .. 154
Bas-Quercy - a heresy of towns and abbeys .................................................. 156
iii. Conclusion..................................................................................................... 160
Chapter 5: The Agenais and Aquitaine in the Albigensian Wars, 1207-1229 ............ 163
i. The crusaders and their targets in Aquitaine and in the Cathar diocese of the
Agenais, 1209-1215............................................................................................ 163
The Crusade in the Languedoc, 1209-15, and the involvement of Aquitainians. 163
Aquitaine and the Agenais at war..................................................................... 166
The Agenais in 1209, 1211-12 and 1213-4 .................................................... 166
Quercy and Perigord in 1212 and 1214......................................................... 17 2
The crusaders in Gascony in 1212-15 ........................................................... 180
ii. An Anglo-French context for the crusade, to 1214 .......................................... 184
King John's involvement .................................................................................. 184
11
King John and Philip Augustus, 1209-14 .......................................................... 189
John's enemies take the Cross .......................................................................... 191
John and Pope Innocent III .............................................................................. 193
iii. Occitan and English interests at the Fourth Lateran Council of November 1215
........................................................................................................................... 196
iv. Rebellion and a return to war, 1216-1229 ....................................................... 199
1216-1225: The defeat of the crusade .............................................................. 200
1226-1229: The victory of the Capetians ......................................................... 206
v. Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 208
Chapter 6: The Cathar Diocese of the Agenais, 1207-1249 ..................................... 212
i. The Cathar diocese during the crusade ............................................................. 212
The Cathar bishop Vigouroux de la Bacone ..................................................... 212
The changing geography of the Cathar diocese of the Agenais ......................... 219
The Agenais ................................................................................................. 219
Villemur ....................................................................................................... 222
Bas-Quercy .................................................................................................. 224
The start of the revival ..................................................................................... 228
The new heretical population of Montcuq ..................................................... 228
The seigneurial family of Gourdon in Quercy ................................................ 229
Bernard de Lamothe, a frequent visitor to the region .................................... 23 1
Conclusion: The heretical societies of the Agenais and Bas-Quercy by c.1229 .. 232
ii. The Agenais after the Peace of Paris ............................................................... 234
The secular society .......................................................................................... 234
The Inquisitorial period, the 123 Os and 1240s .................................................. 240
The Inquisition in the Agenais and Quercy .................................................... 240
Raymond VII and the fight against heresy in the 1240s ................................. 241
iii. The heretical diocese from 1229 ..................................................................... 243
The new geography of the heresy in the Agenais and Quercy ........................... 243
Heretical families and the spread of the heresy ................................................. 243
The Agenais ................................................................................................. 243
Bas-Quercy .................................................................................................. 246
Gourdon ....................................................................................................... 249
Central Quercy ............................................................................................. 250
iv. Conclusion ................................................................................................. ···· 251
v. Postscript - the Agenais from 1249 to 1279 ..................................................... 254
Chapter 7: Conclusion ............................................................................................ 258
Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 263
i. Manuscript sources ................................................................. ·· ... · ....... ····.······· 263
ii. Works of reference ......................................................................................... 264
... P . .. 265
nmary sources m pnnt ................................................................................. .
111.
iv. Secondary works ........................................................................................... 274
iii
Abstract
This thesis offers an account of dualist heresy in medieval Aquitaine. The first part
asserts that the heresy referred to in early eleventh-century sources was dualist and
originated in Balkan Bogomilism. It does this by combining two established
methodologies. Through the first, reading the souces in their social context, it finds the
poor experiencing increased poverty and oppression, and that some amongst the laity
and clergy were observing signs prefiguring The End of historical time. Not
unexpectedly, some responded through dissent and demanded reform and justice: a
new system of values, in other words. Then the thesis adopts a comparative
methodology in a 'global' context. It finds that the accounts of dissent do more than
identify Apocalypticism or primitive communism. They make reference to dualist
cosmology and practice. Dualists in the Balkans were intent on spreading their
teaching world-wide, and this period saw increased contacts with the west. The spread
ofBogomilism to Aquitaine was thus both likely and possible, and appears to have had
some success.
The second part of this thesis makes three contributions to the history of Catharism.
First it suggests why twelfth-century Aquitaine was almost entirely untouched by the
heresy except in the county of Agen. It points to actively Catholic lay authority and a
relatively dynamic monasticism in Aquitaine, and finds these largely absent in the
heretical Agenais. Second, it examines the Cathar diocese of Agen and the impact
upon it of the Albigensian Crusade and the Medieval Inquisition. In this it argues that
Agenais lay society was very diverse and divided, but notes close collaboration
between its heretics and those of neighbouring Quercy. Third, it argues that a better
understanding of aspects of the crusade can be gamed through its examination in the
context of relations between the dukes of Aquitaine - who were also kings of England
- and the counts of Toulouse, the kings of France and the Papacy.
IV
Acknowledgements
lowe a huge debt of gratitude to the many people who have made researching this
thesis possible, manageable and enjoyable.
Gratitude for financial support goes to the British Academy, the Royal Historical
Society, and the Department of History at the University of Nottingham. Thank you
also to the librarians and archivists at the Hallward Library Nottingham, the British
Library, the Institute of Historical Research, the Bibliotheque Nationale, and the
departmental and municipal archives at Agen, Bordeaux and Cahors.
Grateful thanks for their support in tough times and their interest in my work go to: my
parents Christine and Victor Taylor~ to two real treasures, my sister-in-law and
brother, Andrea and Joe 'Joe-fish' Taylor; to my husband's family Enid, Roger,
Christine and Paul Craven; and to my friends especially Keith Duncombe, George and
Luke Hewitt, Sarah and Kevin Pacey, John Mason, Alan Schofield, Debbs Smithson
and Jeff Stevenson, Dave Batchelor, Carole Mallia, Jackie Kilpatrick and especially
Izzie Allen and David Green. Thanks also to Jay Rossi for the Yoga, a vital study-aid
in stressful times. Above all I am indebted to the wonderful Jane Ellis for her excellent
wit and friendship.
Sincere gratitude is due to the following for their scholarly interest and advice and
practical help, not least for proof-reading: Izzie Allen, Katie Attwood, Ross Balzaretti,
Brenda Bolton, Simon Constantine, Mike Craven, Astis Egilsd6ttir, Mike Evans,
Elaine Graham-Leigh, Carole Mallia, Robert Marcus, Lawrence Marvin, Alison
McHardy, Clare Pilsworth, Jon Porter, Andrew Roach, Richard Stevens, Howard
Taylor, and to my examiners Malcolm Barber and Julia Barrow. Special gratitude goes
to my supervisors Bernard Hamilton and Michael Jones for their patience,
encouragement and everything they have taught me about the Middle Ages and how to
study them. I should also especially like to thank Michael for the considerable time he
spent in helping me prepare this thesis in the hectic weeks before its submission, and
Bernard likewise and also for helping me stay in a sound frame of mind throughout.
Mike Craven and David Green 'drew' the genealogies for me when time was getting
v
short!
I should like to thank Mrs Susan Roberts for allowing me to use xeroxes of sources
and the bibliographical index of materials on French eleventh- and twelfth-century
history compiled by her late brother, Geoffrey Scholefield.
Amongst the past and present postgraduates in the Department of History at
Nottingham are some of the most excellent people I've ever met. Thank you for your
support and friendship Jeannie Alderdice, Paul Bracken, Simon Constantine, David
Green, Mike Evans, Paul Evans, Chan-Young Park, Dave Pomfret, Jon Porter and
Kevin Sorrentino.
This thesis is dedicated to the children of my friends and family - born and yet to be
born - especially to Cecile Green and her expected sibling and to Isabel Lee-Craven.
May the next Millennium be better than this, in which 'violence was unleashed, but it
was the work of the very ones who fully intended to be rewarded for supposedly
fighting against it. .. Disorder came from on high, and repression fell on those who were
its victims'.· And not only in its first two hundred and fifty years. On that note, the
deepest admiration and gratitude go to Mike Craven, for changing the future .
• P. Bonnassie.'Banal seigneU!)· and the 'reconditioning' of the free peasantry', trans in 005. Little and
Rosenwein. Debating the Middle Ages, at 132.
\l
Abbreviations
Ademar: Ademar ofChabarmes, Chronicon, ed. I. Chavano~ Paris, 1897.
AFP: Archivum Fratrum Praedicatorum.
Agen. .. Chartes: Archives municipafes d'Agen, chartes premiere serie (J 189-1328),
eds. A. Magen and G. Tholin, Villeneuve .. sur-Lot , 1876.
AHGa: Archives historiques de fa Gascogne.
AHGi: Archives historiques de fa Gironde.
AHP: Archives historiques de Poitou.
AHSA: Archives historiques de fa Saintonge et de f'Aunis.
AM: Annales du Midi.
Anselm of Alessandria: Anselm of Alessandria, Tractatus de hereticis, in ed. A.
Dondaine, La hierarchie Cathare, AFP 20 (1950), 308-24.
AS: Acta Sanctorum, ed. I. Bolland et aI., 61 vols. -, Brussels/AntwerplParis, 1965-
(reprint of 1643- original).
Benedict of Peterborough: Benedict of Peterborough, Gesta Regis Henrici Secundi, 2
vols., ed. W. Stubbs, RS, 1867.
BN: Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris
Book of Saint F oy: Book of Saint F oy, trans. P. Sheingo~ Philadelphia, 1995.
BPH: Bulletin philologique et historique du Comite des Travaux Historiques et
Scientifiques (which does not carty volume numbers but is cited by date).
BSAB: Bulletin de fa Societe Archeofogique de Borda.
BSAHCh: Bulletin de fa Societe Archeologique et Historique de fa Charente
BSHACo: Bulletin de la Societe Historique et Archeofogique de fa CO"eze.
BSAHL: Bulletin de fa Societe Archeologique et Historique du Limousin.
BSHAP: Bulletin de la Societe Historique et Archeofogique du Perigord
BSA 0: Bulletin de la Societe des Antiquaires de rOuest.
CAB: Cartufaire de l'abbaye de Berdoues, ed. l'abbe I.-I. Cazauran, The Hague, 1905.
CAC! Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Cellejrouin, ed. E. Brayer, BPH, 1940-41.
CACm: Cartulaire de l'abbaye de Condom, Spici/egium, ll.
CACTV: Le Cartufaire de l'abbaye cardinale de fa Trinite de VendOme, 5 vols., ed.
Ch. Metais, Vannes, 1893-1904.
a
CACx: Chartes et documents pour servir l'histoire de l'abbaye de Charrou~ ed. P. de
Monsabert, AHP, 39 (1910).
CA G: Cartufaire de l'abbaye de Gimont, eel. l'abbe Clergeac, ParisiA uch, 1905.
a
CAN: Chartes de l'abbaye de Nouaille de 678 1200, eel. P. Monsabert, AHP 49
( 1936).
VIl
CANDS: Cartulaire de I'abbaye royale de Notre-Dame de Saintes de I'ordre de Saini
Benoit, ed. Th. Grasilier, Niort, 1871.
CASCB : Cartulaire de I'abbaye de Saint-Croix de Bordeaux, ed. P. Ducaunnes
Duval, AHGi 27 (1892).
CASJS: Cartulaire de l'abbaye Saint-Jean de Sorde, ed. P. Raymond, Pau, 1873.
CAU: Cartulaire de l'abbaye d'Uzerche (de Xe au XIVe siecles), ed. I.-B. Champeval,
Tulle, 1901.
CAV: Cartulaire de I'abbaye de Vigeois (954 -1167), ed. M. de Montegut, Limoges,
1907.
CCL: Corpus Christianorum: series Latina, New YorkILondon, 1962.
CCM: Cahiers de Civilisation Medievale
CESSB: Cartulaire de l'eglise collegiale de Saint-Seurin de Bordeaux, ed. A. Brutails,
Bordeaux, 1897.
CF: Cahiersde Fanjeaux
CFAR: Charles de Fontevrauld concernanat l'Aunis et La Rochelle, ed. P.
Marchegay, Paris, 1858.
Chanson: William of Tudela et aI., La Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise, 3 vols.,
ed. and French trans. E. Martin-Chabot, Paris, 1960-72.
a
Chartes. .. Saint-Maixent: Chartes et documents pour servir l'histoire de l'abbaye de
Saint-Maixent, ed. A. Richard, 2 vols., AHP 16 and 18 (both 1886).
Christian Dualist Heresies: Christian Dualist Heresies in the Byzantine World, c.650-
1405, eds., trans. and annotation B. and 1. Hamilton, ManchesterlNew York, 1998.
Chron. .. eglises d'Anjou: Chroniques des eglises d'Anjou, eds. P. Marchegay and E.
Mabille, Paris, 1899.
Chron ... Saint-Maixent: La Chronique de Saint-Maixent, 751-1140, ed. and trans. J.
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CPSPLR: Cartulaire du prieure de Saint-Pierre de La Reole, ed. C. Grellet-Balguerie,
AHGi 5 (1864).
Concilia: Concilia, introduction and 53 volumes, ed . I. D. Mansi, Graz, 1960-61 (a
reprint of ibid , Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, 53 vols., Venice,
1759-98).
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and A. Vaillant, Paris, 1945.
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and 33 (1903).
CSM: Cartulaires du Chapitre de l'Eglise Metropolitaine Sainte-Marie d'Auch
(Cartulaires Noir et Blanc), ed. C. La Cave La Plagne-Barris, AHGi 2:3 and 2:4 (both
1899, cited as i and ii).
Vlll
Doat: Mss. Lat. Fonds Doat at the BN.
DSHP: Documents pour l'histoire de l'eglise de Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers (768-1300),
ed. L. Rooet, MSAO 14 (1847) and 15 (1852) (cited as i and ii).
Ducom: Ducom., A, 'Essai sur l'histoire et l'organisation de la commune d'Agen jusqu'au
traite de Bretigny (1360)', RSASAA 2: 11 (1889),161-322 (cited as part i) and 2: 12
(1891-3), 133-234 (cited as part ii).
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EHR: English Historical Review
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Euthymius: Euthymius of the Periblepton, in Christian Dualist HereSies, 142 -64.
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Oxford, 1976.
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1931 (there is a later edition to which I did not have access [Graz, 1957] ).
GC: Gallia christiana in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa, ed. D. Sainte-Marthe et
aI, 16 vols, Paris, 1744-1877.
Geoffrey ofVigeois: Geoffrey ofVigeois, Chronica, in Labbe, II, 279-342.
Gervais of Canterbury: Gervais of Canterbury, Opera historica, ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols.,
RS, 1879-80.
Glaber: Ralph Glaber, The Five Books of the Histories, eds. and trans. J. France and N.
BuIst, Oxford, 1989.
JMH: Journal ofM edieval History.
Hamilton and McNulty: Hamilton, B. and Mc Nulty, P.A.,'Orientale lumen et magistra
latinitis: Greek influences of western monasticism (900-1100)', in Hamilton, Monastic
Reform, Catharism and Crusades (900-1300), London, 1979, 181-216.
Heribert: Latin text of the letter ofHeribert as contained in Peace of God, 347-8.
HGL: Histoire Generale de Languedoc, 16 vols., eds. C. de Vic and 1. Vaissete,
(revised by A. Molinier), Toulouse, 1872-1904.
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1657.
Layettes: Layettes du tresor des chartes, eds. A. Teulet et. ai., 5 vols., Paris, 1863-
1909.
Letters. .. Innocent III: Letters ofP ope Innocent III (l198-1216) Concerning England
and Wales, eds. C. R. and M. G. Cheney, Oxford, 1967.
MA: Le Moyen Age
1X