Spain, and overturned the power of the Almohadans. *

The crusade against the Moors of Spain occasioned but a short interruption to that against the Albigenses. During the winter, Simon de Montfort had been reduced to the small number of knights attached to his fortunes; but, at the same time, the monks of Citeaux had recommenced their preaching throughout all Christendom, with more ardour than ever; and the expedition against the Albigenses, to which according to their assurances, such high celestial favours were attached, was, nevertheless, so short and so easy, that the army of the crusaders was renewed four times in the course of the year, by pilgrims, who, after forty days' service returned to their homes. Guy de Montfort, the count's brother, (who had just returned from the Holy Land,) the provost of the church of Cologne, the archbishop of Rouen, the bishop of Laon, the bishop of Toul, and an archdeacon of Paris, were amongst the principal chiefs who, in the year 1212, came to range themselves under the banners of Montfort. Their hope of contributing to the slaughter and punishment of the Albigenses was not entirely disappointed, but they had no opportunity of distinguishing themselves by great achievements in arms. Upon the arrival of these fanatical bands,

* Roderici Archiepiscopi Toletani, lib. viii, cap. i, ii, p. 129, et seq. in Hisp. illustratæ, t. ii. Roderic of Toledo had himself preached the crusade in France and Italy, and he describes, in detail, the events of which he was the principal author. We cannot, however, admit his testimony for the incredible number of combatants, or that of the slain. Io. Mariana, lib. xi, cap. xxiii, xxiv, p. 548.

almost all the castles of the Toulousians were abandoned by their inhabitants, who sought a refuge in the cities of Toulouse and Montauban, almost the only places which they thought proof against a siege. But the crusade had been preached only for the destruction of heretics; the indulgences of the church were only promised at this price. All the prelates who arrived in Albigeois, surrounded by bigots to whom they had promised the forgiveness of their sins, would have thought their vow unfulfilled if they had not avenged God against his rebels. They were, however, forced to content themselves with such fugitive peasants as they could surprise in the fields, or some prisoners, taken in the castles which had dared to resist them. Those of Saint Marcel and of Saint Antonin furnished them with a considerable number of human victims. But when Simon de Montfort saw that the greater part of the population of the countries, where heresy had prevailed, was exterminated, and that the remainder had placed themselves out of the reach of his attacks, he resolved to take advantage of the zeal of the crusaders, by conducting them into Agenois, whose entire population was catholic, and to make them gain their indulgences at the siege of la Penne, which, after an obstinate resistance, surrendered on the 25th of July.* The siege of Boissac, which followed, was remarkable only for the perfidy which Montfort compelled its inhabitants to practise. He re

* Petri Vall. Cern. Hist. Albig. cap. lxiii, p. 616. Hist. gén, de Languedoc, liv. xxii, ch. xxv, p. 228 Historia de los faicts de Tolosa, p. 46.

fused to grant them their lives, till they had consented to sacrifice, with their own hands, three hundred routiers, who formed their garrison, and who had, to that time valiantly defended them. On this condition, the gates of the city were opened to him on the 8th of September; and the crusaders, contenting themselves with this carnage, received from the citizens a sum of money, to save their houses from the flames. * Simon conducted his army, afterwards, into the counties of Foix and of Cominges, which he ravaged afresh, whilst the count Raymond of Toulouse, despoiled of almost all his states, passed into Aragon, to implore the intercession of his brother-in-law, the king Don Pedro, with the court of Rome. †

At the end of November, 1212, Simon de Montfort assembled a parliament at Pamiers. Under this title was commonly understood a diet, or conference of lords, who united voluntarily to deliberate and decide upon their own interests. The parliament of Pamiers was composed of archbishops and bishops; of French knights drawn into the country by the crusades, or attached to the fortunes of Montfort; of certain knights who spoke the provençal language; and and of some inhabitants of the principal cities of the country. The general of the crusade wished them to draw up statutes, for the government of the conquered provinces, and it was necessary that each order of his new subjects should be

Petri Vall. Hist. Albigens. cap. lxiii, p. 621. Historia de Tolosa, p. 46.

Hist. Albig. Petri Vall. Cern. cap. Ixiv, p. 622. Hist. gén de Languedoc, liv. xxii, ch. xxx, p. 231.

represented in his parliament, that he might ensure their obedience. But he had also taken care, beforehand, to ensure to himself a great majority. All the bishops were absolutely devoted to him; the knights-crusaders had no other interest than his; the inhabitants of the country were intimidated; and the statutes of Pamiers bear the impress of their oppression, and of the suspicions of the conqueror. Amongst fifty-one articles, some of which neverthelesss are favorable to the peasants and lowest classes of society, we may remark the prohibition to rebuild any of the fortresses which had been destroyed, without the express permission of the count; the order to all the catholic women, whose husbands were amongst the enemies of Montfort, to quit the estates under his dominion; the order to widows, or heiresses of noble fiefs, to marry none but Frenchmen, during the space of ten years. These marriages, joined to the confiscations and new infeodations which Montfort granted to his creatures, multiplied, in the province, the noble families of the north of France, who adopted, in their legislation, the customs of Paris, and caused the extinction of the greater number of ancient families, who prided themselves on descending either from the Romans or the Goths.*

It was not in vain that the count of Toulouse took refuge with the king of Aragon, and implored his protection at the court of Rome. This king was held in high consideration by Innocent III, and had rendered great services to the

* Martene Thesaurus Anecdotorum, tom. i, p. 831 seq. Hist. gn. de Languedoc, liv. xxii, ch. xxxiv, p. 233.

church. He could not see, without regret, his two sisters, one married to the count of Toulouse, the other to his son, stripped of their inheritance by Simon de Montfort; or that all the princes of those provinces, the allies and the vassals of the crown of Aragon, should be ruined; that Simon should have refused to himself the service which he owed for his viscounties of Beziers and Carcassonne; and that he had not permitted the other feudatories of the province to render it, even in those moments of danger when Spain appeared on the point of sinking under the invasion of the Almohadans; in a word, that he should destroy that dominion, which Don Pedro himself, and the princes of Aragon, his ancestors, had gradually obtained over the south of Gaul.

The ambassadors of the king, Don Pedro, at the court of Rome, did their utmost therefore to convince the pope that Simon de Montfort was only an ambitious usurper; that, whilst he invoked the name of religion, he thought of nothing but his own aggrandisement; that he attacked, indifferently, catholics and heretics; and that he had changed a crusade against heresy into a war of extermination against that Provençal nation of which the king of Aragon prided himself in being the chief.*

Whether it was that Innocent III had been constantly deceived by his legates, and that the ambassadors of the king of Aragon shewed him the truth for the first time; or whether he felt

* Petri Val. Cern. Hist. Albigens. cap. lxx, p. 635.-Hist. gén. de Languedoc, liv. xxii, ch. xxxvi, p. 234.-1n Mariana Hist. Hisp. lib. xii, cap. ii, p. 557.