Cathars Revolts

However, Raymond, together with his son, returned to the region in April, 1216, and soon raised a substantial force from disaffected towns. Beaucaire was besieged in May and fell after a three month siege; the efforts of de Montfort to relieve the town were repulsed. De Montfort had then to put down an uprising in Toulouse before heading west to captured Bigorre, but he was repulsed at Lourdes in December 1216. In 1217, while de Montfort was occupied in the Foix region, Raymond took Toulouse in September. De Montfort hurried back, but his forces were insufficient to take the town before campaigning halted. De Montfort renewed the siege in the spring of 1218; he was killed in June while fighting in a sortie.

The crusade was left in temporary disarray. The command passed to the more cautious Philippe II, who was concerned with Toulouse rather than heresy. Innocent III had also died in July 1216. The conflict fell into something a lull until 1219, although the crusaders had taken Belcaire and besieged Marmande in late 1218 under Amaury de Montfort. Marmande fell on June 3, 1219 but attempts to retake Toulouse faltered, and a number of de Montfort holds fell. In 1220, Castelnaudary was taken from de Montfort, and while Amaury de Montfort attacked the town from July 1220, the town withstood an eight month siege. In 1221, the success of Raymond and his son continued: Montréal and Fanjeaux were captured, and many Catholics fled. In 1222, Raymond died and was succeeded by his son, also called Raymond. In 1223, Philippe II died and was succeeded by Louis VIII. In 1224, Amaury de Montfort abandoned Carcassonne and fled. The son of Raymond-Roger de Trencaval returned from exile to reclaim the area. Amaury de Montfort offered his claim to the lands of Languedoc to Louis VIII, who accepted.


 French King intervenes
In November 1225 Raymond, like his father, was excommunicated. Louis VIII headed the new crusade into the area in June 1226, towns and castles surrendering without resistance. Avignon, nominally under the rule of the German emperor, did resist, and it took a three month siege to finally subdue the town into surrendering in September. Louis VIII died in November and was succeeded by the child king Louis IX. But Queen Blanche of Castile allowed the crusade to continue under Humbert de Beaujeu. Labécède fell in 1227 and Vareilles and Toulouse in 1228. However, Queen Blanche offered Raymond a treaty, recognizing him as ruler of Toulouse in exchange for his fighting Cathars, returning all Church property, turning over his castles and destroying the defences of Toulouse. Raymond agreed and signed a treaty at Meaux in April 1229. He was then seized, whipped and briefly imprisoned.


 Inquisition

Pedro Berruguete. Saint Dominic presiding over an Auto-da-fe against Albigensians (1475).Languedoc now was firmly under the control of the King of France. The Inquisition was established in Toulouse in November 1229, and the process of ridding the area of heresy and investing the remaining Cathar strongholds began. Under Pope Gregory IX the Inquistion was given almost unlimited power to suppress the heretics. A ruthless campaign started in 1233, burning Cathars wherever they were found, even exhuming bodies for burning. Naturally, many resisted, taking refuge in a few fortresses in Fenouillèdes and Montségur or inciting uprisings. In 1235, the Inquisition was forced out of Albi, Narbonne, and Toulouse. Raymond-Roger de Trencavel led a military effort in 1240, in which he was defeated at Carcassonne in October and then besieged at Montréal. There, he soon surrendered and was allowed passage to exile in Aragon. In 1242, Raymond of Toulouse attempted a revolt to coincide with an English invasion, but the English were quickly repulsed and his support collapsed. He was pardoned by the king.

The Cathar strongholds gradually fell. Montségur withstood a nine month siege before being captured in March 1244. The final holdout, a small, isolated fort at Quéribus, had been overlooked until August 1255 when it quickly fell. The last known Cathar burning by the Inquisition in the Languedoc occurred in 1321.

Catharism  Suppression of Catharism   Cathar Crusade   Cathar Success    Cathars Revolts  Cathar Castles  Cathars