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Albigensian war

Albigensian Crusade
Part of the Crusades
Cartes Occitanie.png
Map of Languedoc on the eve
of the Albigensian Crusade
Date 1209–1229
Location Languedoc, France
Result Crusader victory
Belligerents

Crusaders

Papal States
Kingdom of France

Cathars
County of Toulouse

Crown of Aragon
Commanders and leaders

Simon de Montfort 
Amaury VI of Montfort
Philip II of France

Louis VIII of France

Raymond Roger Trencavel
Raymond VI of Toulouse
Raymond VII of Toulouse

Peter II of Aragon 
Casualties and losses
At least 200,000 to at most 1,000,000Cathars killed
Considered by many historians to be an act of genocide against the Cathars, including the coiner of the word genocide himself Raphael Lemkin

Crusaders

Cathars
County of Toulouse

Simon de Montfort 
Amaury VI of Montfort
Philip II of France

Raymond Roger Trencavel
Raymond VI of Toulouse
Raymond VII of Toulouse

The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political flavour, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars, but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse in Languedoc, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown and diminishing the distinct regional culture and high level of influence of the Counts of Barcelona.

The Cathars originated from an anti-materialist reform movement within the Bogomil churches of Dalmatia and Bulgaria calling for a return to the Christian message of perfection, poverty and preaching, combined with a rejection of the physical to the point of starvation. The reforms were a reaction against the often scandalous and dissolute lifestyles of the Catholic clergy in southern France. Their theology, neo-Gnostic in many ways, was basically dualist. Several of their practices, especially their belief in the inherent evil of the physical world, conflicted with the doctrines of the Incarnation of Christ and sacraments, initiated accusations of Gnosticism and brought them the ire of the Catholic establishment. They became known as the Albigensians, because there were many adherents in the city of Albi and the surrounding area in the 12th and 13th centuries.


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