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The Perfect Heresy
The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars
by Stephen O'Shea
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The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval CatharsAt the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians, rose to prominence in Languedoc, now a region of southern France, but then a patchwork of city-states and principalities beholden to neither king nor bishop. The Cathars held revolutionary beliefs that threatened the authority of the Catholic Church as well as the legitimacy of feudal law: They thought the idea of Hell to be a sham; they rejected all sacraments, including marriage; they thought private property an absurd notion and that all things worldly were corrupt; and they preached religious tolerance and equality of the sexes.Supported by the leaders of Languedoc, Catharism enraged the new and formidable pope, Innocent III, who was determined to flex the Church’s muscle after decades of ineffectual weakness. Innocent resolved to eradicate what is now known as the Great Heresy. He recruited the forces of France, eager to expand her territory to the south, to undertake a systematic extermination of the Cathars and their supporters through a series of crusades between 1209 and 1229. By the time the wars were finally over, the ancient social fabric of the Languedoc had been destroyed, the territory of France reached as far as the Mediterranean, and a terrifying new force—the Inquisition—had been unleashed that would torment Europe for centuries.The Perfect Heresy eloquently chronicles the life and death of the Cathar movement—one of Western civilization’s most mind-boggling tales. As he did in his highly praised Back to the Front, Stephen O’Shea brings long-ago events to life though the energy of his prose and the clarity of his insight. Full of colorful and passionate personalities, his latest book sheds new light on the thirteenth century and on the timelessness of religious intolerance.
Previews available in: English
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The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Spectacular Death of the Medieval Cathars
September 1, 2001, Walker & Company
Paperback
in English
0802776175 9780802776174
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The Perfect Heresy
May 21, 2001, Profile Books Ltd
Paperback
- Re-issue edition
1861973500 9781861973504
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The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars
September 2000, Walker & Company
Hardcover
in English
0802713505 9780802713506
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Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars
Publish date unknown, Douglas and McIntyre (2013) Ltd.
in English
1550548735 9781550548730
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The Perfect Heresy
First published in 2000
Subjects
Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction, History, Albigenses, Church history, France, church historyWork Description
The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval CatharsAt the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Cathars, a group of heretical Christians, rose to prominence in Languedoc, now a region of southern France, but then a patchwork of city-states and principalities beholden to neither king nor bishop. The Cathars held revolutionary beliefs that threatened the authority of the Catholic Church as well as the legitimacy of feudal law: They thought the idea of Hell to be a sham; they rejected all sacraments, including marriage; they thought private property an absurd notion and that all things worldly were corrupt; and they preached religious tolerance and equality of the sexes.Supported by the leaders of Languedoc, Catharism enraged the new and formidable pope, Innocent III, who was determined to flex the Church’s muscle after decades of ineffectual weakness. Innocent resolved to eradicate what is now known as the Great Heresy. He recruited the forces of France, eager to expand her territory to the south, to undertake a systematic extermination of the Cathars and their supporters through a series of crusades between 1209 and 1229. By the time the wars were finally over, the ancient social fabric of the Languedoc had been destroyed, the territory of France reached as far as the Mediterranean, and a terrifying new force—the Inquisition—had been unleashed that would torment Europe for centuries.The Perfect Heresy eloquently chronicles the life and death of the Cathar movement—one of Western civilization’s most mind-boggling tales. As he did in his highly praised Back to the Front, Stephen O’Shea brings long-ago events to life though the energy of his prose and the clarity of his insight. Full of colorful and passionate personalities, his latest book sheds new light on the thirteenth century and on the timelessness of religious intolerance.
Excerpts
The Perfect Heresy
The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars
This edition was published in September 2000 by Walker & Company
First Sentence
"LANGUEDOC'S PATCHWORK OF olive groves and vineyards stretches from the sea to the mountains, an arc of hard-won prosperity reaching from the salty mouth of the Rhone to the lazy flood of the Garonne."
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- Created April 29, 2008
- 8 revisions
August 3, 2020 | Edited by Clean Up Bot | add LCCN |
July 28, 2020 | Edited by Clean Up Bot | import existing book |
August 6, 2010 | Edited by IdentifierBot | added LibraryThing ID |
April 24, 2010 | Edited by Open Library Bot | Fixed duplicate goodreads IDs. |
April 29, 2008 | Created by an anonymous user | Imported from amazon.com record. |