| The Cathars that emerged and prevailed in the vicinity of Toulouse in Southern France, is the most influential catholic dissident of the twelfth century. According to orthodox literatures of the middle ages, the Cathars promulgated rapidly in Occitania towns at the time; furthermore, its spread centered on the Mediterranean town of Toulouse from the middle twelfth century onward. Until the early thirteenth century, many towns around Toulouse have been permeated by this dissident religion, for example Albi, Lombers, Perigueux, Verfeil and Cahors in the north, as well as Montreal, Narbonne, Beziers, Foix and Carcassonne in the south. Most important of all, many seigniorial lords in Occitan sympathized and gave support to this dissident religion.Generally speaking, the Cathars at Toulouse and adjacent areas characterized by the following three features, which respectively are receiving the distinct baptism of Consolamentum; practicing extremely abstinent religious life, which was widely accepted by modern scholars; as well as the tendency of opposing the Roman Catholic Church publicly and intensely. As one of the significant traits by which Catholic peers discerned Cathars, the baptism of Consolamentum became one of the main accusations against Cathars. Nevertheless, seeing from the history of Catholic Church, this ritual even emerged earlier in the Decrees of the Council of Nicaea I in the year of325, and at that time it was not judged as heretical practice.Meanwhile, the Catholic priests also proclaimed that the Cathar was a dualist religion, and accordingly the assumed dualism became another significant accusation by which the Cathars were definitely condemned as heresy. However, after investigating almost all of the records of the Cathars in Occitan, the author found that basically the Cathar was not dualist religion. The sporadic words or sentences of benign and malign gods appeared in the trials of Cathars, resulted probably from their rational reflection on the present situation of the Catholic Church at the time. In addition to these doctrinal accusations, the Cathars at the time showed consciously or unconsciously the tendency of public opposition to the Orthodox Church. As a revolt against grave secularization of the Catholic Church, the Cathars reproached publicly those baptisms presided by unworthy priests, opposed explicitly baptisms for the children, and call in question the utility of salvation for men and women involved in marriage. In order to avoiding the prosecution and even persecution of Orthodox Church, the Cathars always gathered in secret meetings.As for the question why the Cathars emerged and disseminated in the twelfth century Occitan, there have already developed two distinct arguments among international Medievalists, namely Indigenous Reaction as well as External Penetration. Based on thorough investigation of Occitania society, this article argued that the rise of Cathars was essentially the consequence of innate evolution of the Catholic Church in the middle ages. Firstly, the increasingly serious secularization and the frequent abuses of Orthodox Church as well as priests ever since the late twelfth century prompted the emergence and spread of dissenting ideas. Along with the general crisis of Catholic Church at the time, the diocese of Toulouse confronted specifically serious financial exhaustion. Meanwhile, the official church at Toulouse also involved in continuous conflicts with local Seigniorial lords, typically the Count of Toulouse. At the same time, the Reformation Movement of the Church in the eleventh century also gave impetus to the spread of dissident ideas. Secondly, the rapid dissemination of Cathars throughout Toulouse and adjacent towns benefited simultaneously much from the distinct culture in Occitan. On the one hand, Occitania culture characterized by the specific language and the vigor of the Troubadours; on the other hand, the autonomous towns have already maturely evolved in Occitan in the late twelfth century. As happened at Toulouse, more often than not, the recently emerged patrician class almost assumed the same power as the Count in the administration of town affairs. In such a society of cultural plurality and political equality, people in Occitan showed much tolerance toward those dissenting religious groups as Cathars. Thirdly, the Cathars of the twelfth century could not be studied without appropriate consideration of the political context in Occitan. To some extent, quite friable feudal ties as well as intricate seigniorial conflicts here left much space for the spread of the Cathars. Nevertheless, along with the increasing intensity or the subtlety of political struggles, the Cathars sometimes became the scapegoat of these struggles among different seigniorial leaders. This circumstance could be witnessed by the episode occurred at Toulouse in the year1178.The continuingly enlarged influence of the Cathars made the situation of Catholic Church even much tougher, which at the time has already been on the verge of collapse. Since the year of the expedition of Bernard of Clairevaux to Southern France in1145, the Orthodox Church and the Curia attempted to eradicate the influence of the Cathars by launching the Preaching Campaign. During this preaching movement, Cistercian monks as papal legate have been continuously dispatched into Occitan, and as the spokesmen of the Gods, they have fulfilled this Holy Mission without even little laxity and sluggishness. However, their efforts eventually proved to be futile. As the early thirteenth century proved, the Cathars still maintained much energy even when the preaching movement was ongoing.The assassination of Peter of Castelnau in January1208, who served as papal legate at the time, sparked off the military suppression of the Cathars. In the winter of the year1209, with the permission of present pope Innocent III, large-scale military forces marched toward the western bank of Mediterranean Sea. This declared the beginning of the Albigensian Crusade that has continued through the following twenty years in Occitan. The timeless war of the Albigensian Crusade brought heavy losses as well as disastrous destroy for both parts involved. At last, the intervention of the French King broke the equilibrium of war. The seigniorial lords of Occitan, especially the Count of Toulouse were forced to compromise with the northern knights and priests as well as the King. With the Treaties of Paris that was signed at Paris in1229, the Albigensian Crusade came to over. However, the twenty-year bloody war achieved little for getting rid of the Cathars. Hence, under the suggestion of a papal legate, probably Bishop of Tournai, the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, which originally aimed at extirpating the remnants of Cathars, commenced its Holy Mission under the initiation of Pope Gregory IX in the year1234.By analyzing the very process of the rise and fall of Cathars in Occitan in late twelfth and early thirteenth century, it could be found that the vicissitude of this dissident religion has fundamentally impacted on the course of Western Europe in such respects as political, religious and social in general. Firstly, with the violent repression of Cathars by the Holy See, the autonomous towns in Occitan began to decade. Paralleled with this process, the influence of royal power has been strengthened in Southern part of the Kingdom, and the unifying French Monarchy came into shape after the Albigensian Crusade. Secondly, by military efforts, the Catholic Church seems to triumph over the Cathars and their secular supports, and successfully defended the supreme power of the Curia. Nevertheless, the dependence of the Curia on royal support in dealing with religious disputes essentially weakened the power of Pope. Together with the conflicts between the pope and the French King, notably Phlip IV the Fair, in late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, the increasing enlargement of the influence of French King definitely announced the decline of papal authority. More ironically, this development led eventually to the tragedy of Avignon Pope. Lastly, the Albigensian Crusade initiated large-scale religious persecution in Western Europe. With the postwar establishment of the Inquisition, as well as its perennial prosecution of dissident groups, the Persecuting Society in Medieval West began to be formed.
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