Kill Them All : Cathars and Carnage in the Albigensian Crusade

424 Pages·2015·4.63 MB·English

by  McGlynn

For Joe
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Despite this book’s frequently dark and disturbing content, with
all too many parallels with conflicts in the world today, I have
enjoyed writing it tremendously. Much of this was owed to getting
back to the basics of immersing myself in the main contemporary
evidence provided by the four main war reporters of the conflict:
Peter of Vaux de Cernay, William of Tudela, the Anonymous and
William of Puylaurens. In this regard, I would like express my
gratitude and debt to Janet Shirley and Michael Sibly, who,
between them (and with Michael’s late father, William), have
produced the essential English translations and editions of these
writers. I have enjoyed and appreciated their support and
correspondence while writing this book and I am grateful for their
permission to use some plans of medieval towns that first appeared
in their works. Some of the other maps are based on a selection
from Michel Roquebert’s five-volume history in French of the
Albigensian Crusade.
There is no doubt that the influences of John Gillingham and
John France are present in this book; both remain leading figures
in the world of medieval warfare studies. I have enjoyed many
discussions at conferences and talks with Paul Webster, Matt
Bennett, Dan Power and others, as well as my regular contact with
Simon Barton at the University of Exeter. The patience and
encouragement of Shaun Barrington at The History Press has
again made working with him a pleasure. Mention should also be
made of Dirk van Gorp and his editorship of the excellent new
magazine Medieval Warfare. Work continues to be stimulating at
The Open University and at Plymouth University’s Strode College,
where special thanks go to my colleagues on the History, Heritage
and Archaeology degree programme, Andy Pickering and
Katherine Dray.
When I first drew up the proposal for this book some years ago,
Laurence Marvin’s excellent The Occitan War: A Military and
Political History of the Albigensian Crusade, 1209–1218 had yet to be
published. Both being scholars of medieval warfare, it is inevitable
that Prof Marvin and I focus on similar material much of the time
and often reach the same conclusions. His book frequently
clarified my understanding of some events or alerted me to an
alternative reading of others in the chronicles. However, there is
also plenty that is dissimilar as we very often present differing
interpretations and analysis of aspects of the military episodes for
the period 1209–18. The main difference is that Marvin finishes his
account in 1218, while I continue to 1244 to cover all the warfare of
the Albigensian Crusade, including the last military episode
against the Cathar heretics at Montségur. I also add a broader
introduction to encompass a discussion of heresy and emphasise
throughout the wider European picture, especially the role of
England; I also seek to explain the warfare of the crusade in light of
military practice in medieval Europe. Thus the additional material
that these 35–40,000 extra words explore makes Kill Them All a
different book, the first to offer a military analysis of the whole
Albigensian conflict.
On a personal level, I owe much to the ongoing support of
friends: Stephen Rigby, Stephen Forrow, Glenn Renshaw,
Anthony and Jackie Cross, Mary Beeken, Michael Owen, the
Ottaways, Cath Hanley (herself a medieval scholar and also a
historical fiction writer) and others. Very special mention goes to
my great friend Robert Purves, who accompanied my son Sam and
me to Languedoc and who, with Sam, took the majority of the
photos in this book – bringing back warm memories of a
tremendous trip that helped to make the writing of this book so
enjoyable.
As always, my love goes to Sam, Maddy and Jenny, and to
Marie, who is doing wonderful things and without whom so much
would be impossible.
A Note on Names
Medieval names are notoriously flexible in the permutations of
their forms. As a general, but far from inviolable, rule, I have
anglicised the names of leading protagonists. I have kept the
original names of some ecclesiastics such as the legate Arnald
Almaric to emphasise their southern origins. Rather than
employing the familiar academic use of names and titles in the
style of, for example, Raymond Roger Trencavel, Viscount of
Carcassonne, I have simplified it to Viscount Raymond Roger of
Carcassonne. For the most part, I have retained de for French
toponymns (e.g. Bouchard de Marly). Simon de Montfort is simply
Montfort. I refer to him predominantly as viscount to emphasise
his early territorial position in Languedoc. The French proclivity
for hyphenation is not replicated here, hence Pierre des Vaux-de-
Cernay becomes Peter of Vaux de Cernay. Castrum and castra are
such recurrent terms and constant features of the landscape of the
book that I have not italicised them.
CONTENTS
Title
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Albigensian Crusade: A Brutal War of Conquest
1. Cathars, Catholics and Crusaders: ‘The Generation of Vipers’
2. 1209: ‘Kill Them All! God Will Know His Own!’
3. 1209–10: ‘Frantic Men of an Evil Kind and Crazy Women Who
Shrieked Among the Flames’
4. 1211: ‘There Was So Great a Slaughter it Will Be Talked of Until
the End of the World’
5. 1212–13: ‘All Were Seized Without Mercy and Put to the Sword’
6. 1214–17: ‘We Shall Carry Death Across Your Land’
7. 1217–18: ‘Who Could Fail to Dissolve in Tears?’
8. 1219–29: ‘They Completed the Work of Destruction’
Epilogue: 1230–40 – ‘The Synagogue of Satan’
Bibliography
Plates
Copyright
INTRODUCTION
THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE: A BRUTAL WAR
OF CONQUEST
Just over 800 years ago, the brutal Albigensian Crusade began as a
war waged initially against the Cathar heretics in southern France.
Much has been written about the Cathars, the progress of the
crusade and the ultimate suppression of the heresy by the
Inquisition – but the military history and warfare of the whole
crusade has not hitherto received a book-length study.
The emphasis of this book is very much on the incredible drama
of the battles and sieges of the crusade and the brutality with
which the wars were fought. My intention has been to provide an
exciting narrative of the military operations together with expert
analysis of strategy and tactics, and an assessment of the
leadership of the commanders – the famous Viscount Simon de
Montfort and the arguably less familiar but equally important
Louis the Lion and the Count Raymonds of Toulouse. Other books’
narratives of the crusade understandably intersperse its progress
with politics and religion, but for my purposes this would be
detrimental to conveying the intensity and drama of the warfare
itself. I deal briefly with religion in the first chapter; important
developments in politics are covered as and when they influence
the military arena and therefore are discussed in their military
context rather than as detailed studies of their own. My focus
throughout is on the war, how it was fought and what it tells us
about the nature of warfare in the High Middle Ages, making this
book the first dedicated military history of the entire Albigensian
conflict.
I intend to show that military operations took precedence over
all else; religion and politics, vital as they were, depended on the
outcome of the battlefield. Ultimately, this was a war not fought
simply for religion (as is commonly supposed, even by many
academics) but for territorial conquest. Thus, in 1213, at the pivotal
battle of Muret, the crusaders under Simon de Montfort took on
the forces of King Peter II of Aragón, acknowledged as a champion
of the Catholic cause by the papacy. National identity was far more
important than religion: in the south, Catholics and Cathars alike
united to resist the French, whom they considered to be barbaric
northerners. The south fought to preserve its customs, laws and
language against the northern invaders and the military
occupation of its cities.
The book is structured around chapters which relate pivotal and
dramatic military events as well as the overall course of the
fighting. The chapter titles are quotes from contemporary sources
that reflect phases of the conflict for the period under discussion.
These are related and analysed in considerable depth to reveal the
tactics and strategy of crusading warfare. The book starts by
looking at the origins of the crusade and its logistical preparations
before covering its launch and horrific start with the massacre of
Béziers and the fall of Carcassonne. The brutal progress of the
early years of the war is then charted, marked by many massacres,
climaxing with the remarkable battle of Muret in 1213, which saw
the death of a king. We then continue with Simon de Montfort’s