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Authors: Lawrence Goldstone
Tags: Fiction
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in Latin, continued alone, amassing a group of followers who now had a pious alternative to the Cathar heresy.
But one man could do only so much, and the number of Cathars swelled. At this point, Innocent did something unprecedented in the annals of Christian history: he called for a crusade, not against the infidel Muslims for the recapture of Jerusalem, but against fellow Europeans. Encouraged first by Philip Augustus and then by his son, Louis VIII, who saw this as an opportunity to swallow up huge sections of the south, the crusade was conducted with as great a ferocity as has ever been perpetrated in the name of God. Year after year, knights and soldiers from the north, led by Arnold Amaury, a Cistercian monk, and the ruthless warrior Simon de Montfort, the second son of an impecunious but famous noble French family, swept down the countryside, surrounding and besieging Albigensian men, women, and children. If the Cathars surrendered, they were slaughtered or horribly mutilated.
In the face of all this, it took a pope with the clear-sighted pragmatism of Innocent to recognize that Francis of Assisi's request for a new order based on total renunciation of the temptations of worldly life was not another heretical threat but an opportunity. Francis was committed to unconditional, absolute obedience to the pope, so Innocent gave him the authority to preach and establish the Order of the Friars Minor (Little Brothers).
It is astonishing how quickly the ideas of the Franciscans caught on. Everywhere, noblemen gave up their titles to wash the feet of lepers; businessmen surrendered their wealth to beg for themselves and the poor. Lawyers and peasants alike donned the coarse brown or gray robes tied with cord around the waist that were the trademark raiment of the mendicant order. Every friar, from the lowliest novice to the minister general, eschewed any form of medieval transportation and walked, barefoot, no matter what the weather. It is as strong a testament to the human desire for faith as has ever been recorded.
Dominic, too, had applied to Innocent for permission to establish a new order. Dominic did not actually convert many Cathars—the brutality of the crusade saw to that—but still, he received his authority in 1215. Like the Friars Minor, Dominic's group, the Order of Friars Preachers, were mendicants whose assignment was to travel the world preaching the word of God for the salvation of souls. They too adopted a uniform—a white robe covered by a black cloak—and walked everywhere.
Francis began with just twelve acolytes; Dominic had sixteen. Both sent their followers out into the world to carry out their missions. It was not always easy for the friars. Not everyone embraced the mendicant ethic. There were difficulties also with foreign languages and customs, as Brother Jordan, an early Franciscan convert, discovered:
To Germany there were sent . . . John of Penna with about sixty or more Brethren. When they entered the borders of Germany, and, not knowing the language, were asked if they wanted shelter, or food, or other things of the sort, they replied “Ja,” and in this way they received a good welcome from divers folk. When they saw that by saying “Ja” they were kindly treated, they decided that they ought to reply “Ja” to whatever they were asked. So it befell that when they were asked if they were heretics, and if they had come to Germany in order to infect it in the way they had perverted Lombardy [the Cathars], they replied “Ja.” Whereupon some of them were beaten, some imprisoned, and others stripped and led naked to the local court, and made a sport for men to mock at . . . From this experience, Germany was considered by the Brethren to be such a ferocious country that only those inspired by a longing for martydom would dare return hither.
In 1227, a new pope, Gregory IX, decided to eradicate what remained of the Albigensian heresy by appointing special prosecutors who had the
But one man could do only so much, and the number of Cathars swelled. At this point, Innocent did something unprecedented in the annals of Christian history: he called for a crusade, not against the infidel Muslims for the recapture of Jerusalem, but against fellow Europeans. Encouraged first by Philip Augustus and then by his son, Louis VIII, who saw this as an opportunity to swallow up huge sections of the south, the crusade was conducted with as great a ferocity as has ever been perpetrated in the name of God. Year after year, knights and soldiers from the north, led by Arnold Amaury, a Cistercian monk, and the ruthless warrior Simon de Montfort, the second son of an impecunious but famous noble French family, swept down the countryside, surrounding and besieging Albigensian men, women, and children. If the Cathars surrendered, they were slaughtered or horribly mutilated.
In the face of all this, it took a pope with the clear-sighted pragmatism of Innocent to recognize that Francis of Assisi's request for a new order based on total renunciation of the temptations of worldly life was not another heretical threat but an opportunity. Francis was committed to unconditional, absolute obedience to the pope, so Innocent gave him the authority to preach and establish the Order of the Friars Minor (Little Brothers).
It is astonishing how quickly the ideas of the Franciscans caught on. Everywhere, noblemen gave up their titles to wash the feet of lepers; businessmen surrendered their wealth to beg for themselves and the poor. Lawyers and peasants alike donned the coarse brown or gray robes tied with cord around the waist that were the trademark raiment of the mendicant order. Every friar, from the lowliest novice to the minister general, eschewed any form of medieval transportation and walked, barefoot, no matter what the weather. It is as strong a testament to the human desire for faith as has ever been recorded.
Dominic, too, had applied to Innocent for permission to establish a new order. Dominic did not actually convert many Cathars—the brutality of the crusade saw to that—but still, he received his authority in 1215. Like the Friars Minor, Dominic's group, the Order of Friars Preachers, were mendicants whose assignment was to travel the world preaching the word of God for the salvation of souls. They too adopted a uniform—a white robe covered by a black cloak—and walked everywhere.
Francis began with just twelve acolytes; Dominic had sixteen. Both sent their followers out into the world to carry out their missions. It was not always easy for the friars. Not everyone embraced the mendicant ethic. There were difficulties also with foreign languages and customs, as Brother Jordan, an early Franciscan convert, discovered:
To Germany there were sent . . . John of Penna with about sixty or more Brethren. When they entered the borders of Germany, and, not knowing the language, were asked if they wanted shelter, or food, or other things of the sort, they replied “Ja,” and in this way they received a good welcome from divers folk. When they saw that by saying “Ja” they were kindly treated, they decided that they ought to reply “Ja” to whatever they were asked. So it befell that when they were asked if they were heretics, and if they had come to Germany in order to infect it in the way they had perverted Lombardy [the Cathars], they replied “Ja.” Whereupon some of them were beaten, some imprisoned, and others stripped and led naked to the local court, and made a sport for men to mock at . . . From this experience, Germany was considered by the Brethren to be such a ferocious country that only those inspired by a longing for martydom would dare return hither.
In 1227, a new pope, Gregory IX, decided to eradicate what remained of the Albigensian heresy by appointing special prosecutors who had the
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