Massacre at Béziers

The Massacre at Béziers refers to the slaughter of the inhabitants during the sack of Béziers, an event that took place on 22 July 1209, and was the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade.

After Pope Innocent III had declared a crusade to eliminate Catharism in the Languedoc, a crusader army consisting of knights with their retinue (mostly from northern France), professional soldiers, mercenary bands (routiers), and pilgrims, assembled and departed from Lyon in early July 1209. Béziers, a stronghold of Catharism, was the first major town the crusaders encountered on the way to Carcassonne. It was well fortified, amply supplied, and in a position to withstand a long siege. Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse was able to switch sides in time and joined the crusaders at Valence. The attempt by Raymond Roger Trencavel, viscount of Béziers, to peacefully submit was rejected at Montpellier. The viscount departed from Montpellier in a hurry, ahead of the crusader army, to prepare his defenses. On the way to Carcassonne, he stopped at Béziers, promising reinforcements, and taking along some Cathars and Jews.

Commanded by the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux, Arnaud Amalric, the crusader army reached the outskirts of Béziers on 21 July 1209. As they started to pitch their camp, the Bishop of Béziers, Renaud de Montpeyroux, tried to avert bloodshed and to negotiate. He came back to Béziers with the message that the town would be spared provided it would hand over their heretics. The bishop had drawn up a list of 222 individuals, mostly Cathars, some Waldensians, likely to be perfecti or leaders of their communities. But in a meeting at the Cathedral, it was determined that to hand over these people was not possible because they had too much support within the town. So the bishop asked the Catholics to leave the town to save themselves. This proposal was rejected, and the bishop left the town with just a few Catholics.

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