Page images
PDF
EPUB

which it carried those whose faith it suspected, with those whose conduct it accused, or against whom it alleged usurious loans. It afterwards executed its own judgments by open force, by the destruction and pillage of their houses. The partisans of tolerance very soon formed a counter association, which they called the black company; the two troops frequently came to arms in the streets, with ensigns displayed; and many towers, which belonged to one side or the other, were alternately besieged. Thus," continues master William Puylaurens, (a contemporary historian,) "did our Lord, by the ministry of his servant the bishop, instead of a bad peace, excite amongst them a good war."4

66

But, whilst the bishop was endeavouring to kindle war amongst his flock, the count was labouring to restore peace amongst his subjects. At the return of the five thousand men of the white company, who had been at the siege of Lavaur, he represented to them that their dissensions would bring ruin on their country; that an attack of the crusaders would involve them all in one common destruction; and that, whatever might be their differences of opinion, they ought to repair their walls, and prepare for their defence, if they would not expose themselves to the hazard of being put to the sword. He succeeded in producing a reconciliation between the two companies, and the 4 Chronica Magistri Guillelmi de Podio Laurentii, c. xv, p. 675.

legate took occasion from it to subject all the Toulousians to a sentence of excommunication." On his part, the bishop Fouquet recalled his clergy, that he might save his priests from that punishment to which he destined the remainder of his flock. All the priests of Toulouse, with the provost of the cathedral at their head, quitted the city, barefoot, carrying the holy sacrament in the procession, and singing litanies. However, the Toulousians did not at that time suffer the fate to which their pastors destined them. Raymond VI, seconded by the counts of Foix and of Cominges, so incommoded the besiegers, by frequent sallies, killed so many of them, and made them so soon endure privations and famine, that Simon de Montfort was obliged to raise the siege on the 29th of June, and soon after saw himself abandoned by the greater part of the crusaders, whose time of service had expired."

To efface the remembrance of this check, Simon de Montfort extended his ravages into the county of Foix, which he desolated with fire and slaughter. He then passed into Quercy, the lordship of which he compelled the inhabitants to give him. But at the same time the count of Toulouse, having collected succours from all his allies, came in his turn to besiege Castelnaudary. He appeared

5 Guillelmi de Podio Laur. cap. xviii, p. 677.

6 Petri Vallis Cern. Hist. Albigens. cap. liv, lv, p. 600, 601. Historia de los faicts de Tolosa, p. 38. Lettre des habitans de Toulouse à Pierre roi d'Aragon. Preuves de l'histoire de Languedoc, p. 232 et seq.

[ocr errors]

before that city towards the end of September, with the counts of Foix, and of Cominges, the viscount of Béarn, and Savary de Mauléon. Although the crusaders were reduced to an inferiority of number, Simon de Montfort did not abandon the besieged. He shut himself up in their walls, with a chosen troop of his old companions in arms, who did not exceed one hundred knights. At the same time he solicited his lieutenants, his vassals, and his wife, to collect all the soldiers who were at their disposal, and march to his deliverance; but as soon as his fortune began to waver, the hatred, that he had excited through the country, broke out in every part, and those, upon whom he had reckoned the most, declared against him. His mareschal Guy de Levis, and his brother-in-law, Bouchard de Marli, or Montmorency, succeeded, at last, in collecting a numerous body of knights, from the dioceses of Narbonne, Carcassonne, and Beziers. These were crusaders, who, like Montfort, had gained establishments in the country, and who saw, that, without an effort of valour, their conquests would be lost. The valiant count of Foix intercepted them about a league from Castelnaudary, attacked and dispersed them two several times, but his troops having broken their ranks, to pillage the vanquished, were attacked anew either by another body of the crusaders, or by Montfort himself, who at the head of sixty knights had sallied from

G

Castelnaudary, and were in their turn put to the rout. In spite of this success, in spite of the arrival of Alain de Rouci a French knight, with a fresh body of crusaders, the affairs of Simon de Montfort continued to decline to the end of the year. The count of Toulouse reconquered all the strong places of Albigeois, and, in more than fifty castles, the inhabitants eagerly expelled or massacred their French garrisons, to surrender themselves to their ancient lord."

The hatred against the crusaders which seemed rooted in the hearts of all the inhabitants of the country, and of all who spoke the provençal language, gave occasion to the legates, the vice-legates, the monks of Citeaux, and to all that ecclesiastical council which hitherto had directed the crusade, to announce that it was time to complete the regeneration of the country, by changing the secular clergy. They had long accused the bishops of lukewarmness, or indifference to the triumphs of the church, and had solicited their destitution. This they at last obtained, in the year 1212, either from the pope, or from the timidity of the persecuted prelates themselves. Bernard Raymond de Rochefort, bishop of Carcassonne, consented to give in his resignation; and Guy, abbot of Vaux-Cernay, was invested with his

6 Petri Vallis Cern. Hist. Albig. c. lvi, lvii, lviii, p. 604 et seq. Guill. de Podio Laurentii, cap. xix, p. 677. Historia de los faicts de Tolosa, p. 42 et seq. Hist. gén. de Languedoc, liv. XXII, chap. viii, ix, x, p. 218 et seq.

bishopric. It is not known whether Berenger, archbishop of Narbonne, escaped by death from the persecutions which he had so long suffered, or whether he was deposed; but Arnold Amalric, abbot of Citeaux, and chief of all the legations to the Albigenses, took possession of this archbishopric. Amongst the bishops of his province, who assisted at his consecration, two others were taken from that order of Citeaux, which had preached and conducted the crusade. The abbot Arnold did not, however, content himself with the spiritual dignity which he acquired, as the fruit of his labours for the extirpation of heresy. To the archiepiscopal throne of Narbonne, and to the rich revenues of that metropolitan see, he resolved also to join the ducal crown. The count of Toulouse bore, at the same time, the title of duke of Narbonne, and the viscount of that same city was his vassal, and owed him homage. The abbot Arnold, in excommunicating Raymond VI, had abandoned his states to the first occupant, and he had taken care, in consequence, to be the first to occupy the duchy of Narbonne. He had taken possession of the archbishopric on the 12th of March, 1212, and on the 13th he demanded homage of the viscount of Narbonne, and an oath of fidelity.R

The fanaticism and cruelty of a monk were more easily pardoned, in that age, than the cupidity

8 Hist. de Lang. liv. XXIII, ch. xvi, p. 223. Preuves ib. No. 106, p. 236.

« PreviousContinue »