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Sean
Martin.
The
Cathars.
Pocket
Essentials, 2005.
ISBN
1904048331.
Hardback.
186 x
124mm.
160pp.
Publisher's
recommended price £9.99
Catharism was the most
successful heresy of the Middle Ages. Flourishing principally in the
Languedoc and Italy, the Cathars taught that the world is evil and must
be transcended through a simple life of prayer, work, fasting and
non-violence. They believed themselves to be the heirs of the true
heritage of Christianity going back to apostolic times, and completely
rejected the Catholic Church and all its trappings, regarding it as the
Church of Satan; Cathar services and ceremonies, by contrast, were held
in fields, barns and in people’s homes.
Finding support from the nobility in the fractious political situation
in southern France, the Cathars also found widespread popularity among
peasants and artisans. And again unlike the Church, the Cathars
respected women, and women played a major role in the movement. Alarmed
at the success of Catharism, the Church founded the Inquisition and
launched the Albigensian Crusade to exterminate the heresy. While
previous Crusades had been directed against Muslims in the Middle East,
the Albigensian Crusade was the first Crusade to be directed against
fellow Christians, and was also the first European genocide. With the
fall of the Cathar fortress of Montségur in 1244, Catharism was
largely obliterated, although the faith survived into the early
fourteenth century.
Today, the mystique surrounding the Cathars is as strong as ever, and
Sean Martin recounts their story and the myths associated with them in
this lively and gripping book.
- Gripping,
tragic true story of a peaceful sect who were wiped out in Europe’s
first genocide, the Albigensian Crusade.
- Equal
appeal to the History and New Age/Mind Body Spirit Market
- First
complete history of the Cathars for a general readership, including
sections on the Cathars in Italy and Bosnia. Earlier books for a
general readership only covered one aspect, while other books are aimed
at an academic audience only
- Cathar
myths will also be examined. The sect were long suspected, for
instance, of possessing a fabulous treasure – thought by some to be the
Holy Grail – and the book looks at both the pros and cons of the less
substantiated side of the Cathar story
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