Unto the Pure...

Dear Folk,

On this day June 24, 1209, the crusade against the Albegensians (The
Cathari) started out from Lyon, France. It took over 35 years to wipe
out these evil heretics. The crusade against them, to show them the
light, was lead by such notables as Simon de Montford and Domingo De
Guzman.

You might remember Domingo for a couple of things. One, he was so good
in the military and such a great soul, he was canonized as St. Dominic.
All those nifty Dominicans who lead the Inquisition were his folk!
Remember the Singing Nun? Her song "Dominic" was in praise of him. Oh,
the second was from his famous quote. As the final Cathar city was
about to fall, one of Domingo's subordinates wondered how they would
separate the Catholics from the non-Catholics, to which Domingo replied
with "Kill them all, let God sort them out" And you thought we came up
with that in Vietnam!

The Cathari were a horrid lot. They must have been for the pope to
declare a crusade against them. This was in the middle of all that
fighting in the Holy Land. The pope decides to go whomp up on some
folks in Southern France instead. As one of the Church fathers was
heard to remark, "Better an infidel than a heretic."

Cathari, means "pure" in Greek. Branded heretics by the Church, little
remains to speak of them today, other than Inquisition records. Their
writings were destroyed along with their earthly bodies. Guess the good
guys won.

Some of their heresies that we know of included the belief in a spirit
of the land, then known as Oc, which was that of tolerance and personal
liberty. They also believed in a duality, a fight between Good and
Evil. That was an obvious error because we all know everything,
including Dominic De Guzman, is Good. They also held women as equals,
and are credited with being responsible for Courts of Love,
troubadours, the Grail Legends. We also know the revered the Gospel of
John, used caves for initiation, were in touch with the power of stone
(tellurgic currents), and used the pentacle. There is also some
evidence they believed in reincarnation.

It is one thing for an old guy to decide to renounce the world and
become a monk. It is quite another thing for entire villages to do so.
These folks were led by vegetarians who did not have sex! And they did
not believe in the authority of popes or kings. They preached a
reformation of Christianity and the harsh feudal laws. These folks were
subversive to the very fabric of their society.

The supposed end of all this piety and disobedience to established
government and church came at Montségur, a castle in Southern France.
Below Montségur lies a peaceful meadow, its name, "Field of the
Burned". In March, 1244, 205 Cathars were burned alive on the site,
rather than renounce their creed. They marched singing and willingly
into that fire. Funny, the crusaders failed to find the supposed wealth
of the Cathari.

Are there any lessons to be learned here? Grasshopper's always wrong in
argument with chicken? Fire nicely destroys heretics and their
doctrine? Yes, Janet Reno, you can put your hand down. Be one badass
dude and you can become a saint? Some treasure is not visible to the
profane eye? I think I shall go with a now-Buddhist monk, Leonard
Cohen, on this one: "Myself I've yearned for love and light but must it
come so cruel and oh so bright?"


History is written by the winners and sometimes the whiners,
Ells