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of only forty days, (to which the greater part of the vassals were obliged by the service of their fiefs,) in exchange for eternal salvation. The shorter the service was, the better it suited the neighbouring provinces.

It was, in fact, principally amongst the near neighbours of the Albigenses, that the Bernardins found means to draw after them nearly the whole population. Some authors have spoken of three hundred, or even of five hundred thousand pilgrims or crusaders, who precipitated themselves upon Languedoc; the abbot of Vaux Cernay reckons but fifty thousand in this first campaign, and the smallest number is the most probable, especially in that age when very numerous armies were so seldom seen. We must not, however, include in this calculation the ignorant and fanatical multitude which followed each preacher, armed with scythes and clubs, and promised to themselves that if they were not in condition to combat the knights of Languedoc, they might, at least, be able to murder the women and children of the heretics. Several places had been assigned for the assembling of the crusaders. Arnold Amalric, abbot of Citeaux, legate of the pope, and chief director of the crusade, collected at Lyons the greatest number of combatants, principally those who had taken arms in the kingdom of Arles, and who were vassals of Otho IV; the archbishop of Bourdeaux had assembled a second body in the Age

nois; these were subjects of the king of England; the bishop of Puy commanded a third body in the Velay, who were subjects of Philip Augustus.5

When count Raymond VI learned that these terrible bands of fanatics were about to move, and that they were all directed towards his states, he hastened to represent to the pope, that the legate Arnold, who conducted them, was his personal enemy, and "it would be unjust" said he "to profit by my submission, to deliver me to the mercy of a man who would listen only to his resentment against me." To take from the count of Toulouse, in appearance, this motive for complaint, Innocent III named a new legate, Milon his notary or secretary; but far from endeavouring, by this means, to restrain the hatred of the abbot of Citeaux, his only aim was to deceive Raymond; "for the lord pope expressly said to this new legate, let the abbot of Citeaux do every thing, and be thou only his organ; for in fact the count of Toulouse has suspicions concerning him, whilst he does not suspect thee."

The nearer the crusaders approached, the more the count of Toulouse, who had given himself into their power, was struck with terror. On the one hand, he endeavoured to gain the affections of his subjects, by granting new privileges to

5 Petri Vallis Cern. Hist. Albigens. cap. xvi, p. 571. Historia de los faicts d'armas, p. 8 et seq. Hist. gén. de Languedoc, liv. xx1, ch. liii, p. 167, 168. 6 Hist. Albigens. Petri Vall. Cern. cap. x, p. 566.

some, and pardoning the offences of others who had incurred his resentment; on the other hand, he consented to purchase his absolution from the hands of the pope's legate, by the most humiliating concessions. He consigned to the apostolic notary seven of his principal castles, as a pledge of his fidelity; he permitted the consuls of his best cities to engage to abandon him if he should depart from the conditions imposed upon him; he submitted beforehand, to the judgment which the legate should pronounce upon fifteen accusations which the agents of the persecution had laid against him; and finally, he suffered himself on the 18th of June to be conducted into the church of St. Gilles, with a cord about his neck and his shoulders naked, and there received the discipline around the altar. After all these humiliations, he was allowed to take the cross against the heretics, and it was by favour that he was permitted to join those who were about to attack his nephew, becoming their guide for that purpose.8

The principal army of the crusaders descended the valley of the Rhone by Lyons, Valence, Montelimart and Avignon. The count of Toulouse went to meet it at Valence; he conducted it to Montpellier where it passed some days. In this city the young Raymond Roger, viscount of Be

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7 Remissio Consulibus et habitatoribus Nemausi :-Preuves de Languedoc, p. 211. 8 Acta inter Innocentii Epistolas, tom. ii, p. 347, et seq. Hist. Albigens. Petri, cap. xii, p. 568. Hist. gén, de Languedoc, liv. xxi, p. 162.

ziers, came also to seek the legate with a view of making his peace. According to the ancient chronicle of Toulouse, he told him "that he had done the Church no wrong, and wished to do none; but that if his people and officers had received and supported any heretics or other persons, in his domain, that he was innocent of it and not to blame; and that those ought to pay and satisfy, and not he, considering his disposition; and that the said officers had always governed his territory to this hour; praying and supplicating the said legate and council, to receive him to mercy, for he was servant to the church, and for her wished to live and die towards and against every one. To which the legate replied that what he had to do was to defend himself the best that he could, for he should shew him no mercy.9

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Indeed, from that time, the viscount of Beziers thought only of making a vigorous defence. He called to him all his vassals, all his friends and allies, and communicated to them the offers which he had made; he informed them of the manner in which they had been received, and found them as determined as he was, to defend themselves. It was very far from being the case, that all who took arms with him were heretics, but the mass of the crusaders, whose arrival they had beheld, was so disorderly, so eager to shed blood, in

9 Historia de los faicts d'armas de Tolosa, p. 7.

honour of the church, so impatient for action, without asking or receiving any explanation, that no one dared to take the chance of its errors, and that all the barons and knights were eager to shut themselves up in their castles, to summon their peasants, and to provision themselves there, that they might be able to resist the first attack. Some castles, as Servian and Puy-la-roque, were abandoned at the approach of these fanatics; others, as Caussadi and St. Antonin, where there was no suspicion of heretics, ransomed themselves by heavy contributions. Villemur was burned. Chasseneuil, after a vigorous resistance, capitulated. The garrison obtained permission to retire with what they could carry, but the inhabitants, being suspected of heresy, were abandoned to the mer

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of the legate. The crusaders regarded their capture as the object and recompense of their enterprise. Men and women were all precipitated into the flames, amidst the acclamations of their ferocious conquerors: all the wealth found in the castle was afterwards given up to pillage.1

But Raymond Roger had chiefly calculated on the defence of his two great cities, Beziers, and Carcassonne; he had divided between them his most valiant knights, and the routiers who were attached to his fortune. He had first visited Beziers to assure himself that this place was provi

1 Hist. gén, de Languedoc, liv. XXI, ch. Ivi, p. 168. Historia de los faicts d'armas, p. 18.

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