The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: The Albigensian Crusade and its Aftermath [1 ed.] 0851159257, 9780851159256

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THE CHRONICLE OF ILLIAM OF PUYLAURENS THE ALBIGENSIAN CRUSADE AND ITS AFTERMATH Translated with an introduction, notes and appendices by

W. A. SIBLY and M. D. SIBLY

THE BOYDELL PRESS

THE CHRONICLE OF WILLIAM OF PUYLAURENS

© W. A. Sibly and M. D. Sibly 2003 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner

First published 2003 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge

ISBN 0 85115 925 7

The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. PO Box 41026, Rochester, NY 14604-4126, USA website: www.boydell.co.uk

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William, of Puylaurens. The chronicle of William of Puylaurens: the Albigensian crusade and its aftermath I translated with an introduction, notes, and appendices by W.A. and M.D. Sibly. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8 5 1 15-925-7 (hardback : alk. paper) 1 . Albigenses. 2. Heresies, Christian - France - Languedoc - History - Middle Ages, 6001500. 3. France - Church history - 987- 1 5 1 5. I. Sibly, W. A. II. Sibly, M. D. III. Title. BX4891.3 .W55 2003 272'.3' 09448 - dc21 2002013792

This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by Joshua Associates Ltd, Oxford Printed in Great Britain by St Edmundsbury Press Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

CONTENTS

Preface

• •

Vll

Maps Family trees

• • •

Vlli • •

Xll

Introduction

XV

The general background The text and translation

XV • •

xvn

The notes and appendices

•

XIX

The author's life

XX

The composition of the Chronicle and its value as a source The translation and use of various terms Dates The historical background - bibliographical note

•

XXIV • • •

XXVHI • • •

XXXIll • • •

XXXIll

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens

1

Summary

3

Translation and notes

7

Prologue and Chapters I-XII [Before the Crusade] Prologue - 7, I - 10, II - 1 1 , III - 1 3 , IV - 15, V - 16, VI - 19, VII - 2 1 , VIII - 23, IX - 25, X - 27, XI - 29, XII - 3 1 Chapters XIII-XXI [From the start of the Crusade to the battle of Muret] XIII - 32, XIV - 33, XV - 35, XVI - 37, XVII - 40, XVIII - 42, XIX - 43, XX - 45, XXI - 47 Chapters XII-XXXVII [From the aftermath of the battle of Muret to the Treaty of Paris] XXII - 50, XXIII - 5 1 , XXIV - 53, XXV - 55, XXVI - 56, XXVII - 58, XXVIII - 59, XXIX - 62, XXX - 64, XXXI - 65, XXXII - 66, XXXIII - 7 1 , XXXIV - 73, XXXV - 75, XXXVI - 78, XXXVII - 79 Chapters XXXVIII-XLIII [From the Treaty of Paris to the Peace of Lorris] XXXVIII

- 82,

XXXIX

- 87, XL - 88, XLI - 9 1 , XLII - 98, XLIII - 1 02

Chapters XLIV-L [From the Peace of Lorris to the end of the Chronicle] XLIV - 107, XLV - 109, XLVI - 1 12, XLVII - 1 1 5, XLVIII - 1 1 9, XLIX - 120, L - 123

Contents

•

Vl

Appendices A.

Report of the legates Milo and Arnold Amalric to Pope Innocent III on the first few weeks of the Crusade (August 1 209)

127

B.

Documents illustrating the attitude of Kings Philip Augustus and Louis VIII of France to the Albigensian Crusade, and also the policies of Pope Honorius III C. The Treaty of Paris, 1 229

130 138

D. Letters of Pope Gregory IX concerning the Inquisition, with a note on his relations with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse

145

Abbreviations and bibliography of works cited Index

150 157

PREFACE

No complete translation of the Chronicle of William of Puylaurens has hitherto appeared in English, and the main purpose of this volume is hence to provide an accurate and readable English version. It is also intended in part to complement our earlier translation of Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay's Historia Albigensis, published by Boydell & Brewer in 1 998, and reprinted in paperback in 2000 and 2002 with some minor corrections to the notes and appendices. Publication of this translation of William of Puylaurens means that, taken together with Janet Shirley's translation of the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise, 1 the three main narrative sources for the Albigensian Crusade are now available in full in English versions. However, to regard the Chronicle merely as a source for reference is to do it less than justice. Indeed after living with it for some years we have come to appreciate its value as the work of a highly intelligent man, composed with great care and thought, and very interesting in its own right. It will be clear both from our annotations and from the points we make in the Introduction that in preparing the translation we have been greatly indebted to Jean Duvernay's 1976 edition of the Chronicle (reprinted with minor correc­ tions in 1996). This has provided us with the Latin text, a parallel translation into French, and full notes, on many of which we have drawn in compiling our own. We are also indebted to many other works, as will be clear from our Introduction and footnotes. We are very grateful to Malcolm Barber, of the University of Reading, for answering various queries, and for his general interest in this work and his support in getting it published. Malcolm Lambert answered queries, and Patrick Zutshi, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, kindly looked at a draft of Appendix B. Hayley Greer prepared the family trees. The Bodleian Library in Oxford provided us with access to many of the items we have consulted. Last, but by rights first, we must also thank the rest of the family for putting up with yet another four years of work on 1 3th century Languedoc, much of it undertaken when there were many other pressures on us; and Anne Sibly in particular for reading through the whole of the book in proof. For the errors and misconceptions which remain, we are wholly to blame.

1 Shirley, The Song of the Cathar Wars: A History of the Albigensian Crusade (Aldershot, 1996).

Languedfoc in 'th,e '13th cen�urv west

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INTRODUCTION

The general background The Chronicle ( Chronica) of William of Puylaurens covers events relating to the history of Languedoc from the twelfth century to the mid- 1270s. Its principal subject is the origins, course and aftermath of the Albigensian Crusade, which was launched by Pope Innocent III in 1208-9 against Count Raymond VI of Toulouse and other southern lords who were said to be failing to support the Church in combating heresy. Its particular focus is Toulouse, its bishops, and the Counts of Toulouse, reflecting the fact that William of Puylaurens was a native of the city, who served two successive bishops, and later Count Raymond VII. Much of the Chronicle is based on a close knowledge of the people and events being described, which adds greatly to its importance. The Chronicle (whose content is outlined in more detail below) begins by describing the strength of heresy and the weakness of the Catholic Church in southern France at the beginning of the thirteenth century, and touches on some of the measures taken to combat heresy at that time, including the preaching campaign in 1206-7. It goes on to give an account of the course ofthe Albigensian Crusade, which began in 1209 and finally ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1229. It then describes the early development of the Inquisition in Languedoc in the 1 230s, with particular reference to Toulouse and the role of its Bishop, Fulk, and also covers other events in Languedoc after the Crusade, and especially those relating to Count Raymond VII of Toulouse in the 1230s and 1240s. The Chronicle draws to a close with some chapters which deal mainly with the affairs of the French Crown and related matters (including Louis IX's crusades) from the late 1 240s onwards. It ends with a brief account of the military intervention of Louis IX's successor, Philip III, in Languedoc in the years 1272-5. The degree of detail provided for different periods varies considerably. Some (such as parts of the 1230s, and the period after the death of Raymond VII), receive relatively little coverage, even though what is said is important. The Chronicle is one of the three main contemporary narrative sources for the Albigensian Crusade. The other two such sources, the Historia Albigensis of Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay and the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise, are both much more detailed than the Chronicle but their accounts come to an end shortly after the death of Simon de Montfort in 1 2 1 8. William's account of these earlier years is of considerable value, for example in giving details of the condition of the church of Toulouse at the start of the thirteenth century (especially chs. VI and VII), of Fulk's work after he became Bishop in 1205, and of the preaching campaign of 1207. But the Chronicle is also of great importance because it continues to record the later years of the Crusade up to the Treaty of Paris in 1229, and it is a vital source for many events in the 1230s and 1240s, including Raymond VII's marital projects and his relations with the papacy, the French Crown, the Emperor Frederick II, and the Kings of Aragon (James I) and

•

XVI

Introduction

England (Henry III). William of Puylaurens is also important because of the information he gives on the early development of the work of the Inquisition in Languedoc. Even though his account of this contains significant gaps (see e.g. ch. XLI, n. 55), it gives vital information about the 'episcopal' inquisition conducted by Bishop Fulk in 1229-30, immediately after the Treaty of Paris. It also complements the Chronicle of William Pelhisson (which is concerned mainly with the activities of the Dominican inquisitors in Toulouse in the 1230s), as well as diplomatic correspondence and the records of the work of the inquisitors themselves. William lived from about 1200, or a little before, to about 1275. He was thus a contemporary of most of the events covered in his work, and he also had the benefit of a long perspective. He served in the household of Bishop Fulk of Toulouse (d. 123 1 ) , who clearly had a major influence on him, and is much eulogised in his Chronicle. William served Fulk's successor, Raymond de Falgar, for a time, and was also for some time rector or prior of the church at Puylaurens, about 50 kilometres east of Toulouse. In the 1240s he was chaplain to Count Raymond VII himself. William was unquestioningly opposed to heresy, and he was unswervingly loyal to the Catholic Church and especially to the bishops of Toulouse. He supported the Crusade and the efforts of the crusaders and later of the French Crown to extirpate heresy from the Midi, just as he supported the work of the early inquisitors. In his Prologue he blames the people, prelates and princes of the Midi for their neglect, which allowed heresy to become implanted in the South, and he regarded the Crusade, and all the destruction it brought, as the inevitable consequence. Nevertheless, as will appear from our discussion later in this Introduction, he was no blind partisan. He can see the faults of the crusaders, including even Simon de Montfort, the great hero of the Crusade. He was clearly an intelligent man, able to appreciate the complexities of the events he describes without losing sight of his overall loyalties. He takes no pleasure in the warfare and disruption of these years, which he regrets; and the tone of his narrative is in marked contrast both to the simplistic and naive support for the crusaders which characterises Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay's Historia, and to the pro-southern stance of the anonymous writer of the second part of the Chanson. Sometimes his partiality, and perhaps his devotion to Bishop Fulk of Toulouse in particular, lead him to take what we might see as a one-sided view, but in general he gives much more of a sense of critical detachment than the other contemporary narratives. He himself undoubtedly witnessed many of the events he describes and was closely connected with Bishop Fulk and Count Raymond VII of Toulouse. Taken together, this all means that he is greatly to be valued as a source. Moreover William is no 'Dryasdust': the Chronicle, as the product of an intelligent and knowledgeable man, is also very readable in its own right. The remainder of this introduction sets out our approach to preparing the translation; discusses the author's life and the composition of the Chronicle; considers in more detail its value as a source; and concludes with a short note on other sources and on some of the secondary works which will help to set it in its historical context.

Introduction

• •

xvn

The text and translation The Latin text we have used is the version freshly collated from the manuscripts by Jean Duvernoy, printed with an introduction, apparatus criticus, extensive notes, and a parallel French translation. This was published as Guillaume de Puylaurens: Chronique (Chronica magistri Guillelmi de Podia Laurentii) (Paris, 1 976) (hereafter Duvernoy); and was reprinted in 1996 by Le Peregrinateur editeur, Toulouse, but with different pagination and note numbering, and some minor amendments. We have referred to the first edition of 1976 throughout, especially because this is the one usually cited, but cross referencing with the reprint is not difficult. It will be clear that we are heavily indebted to Duvernoy' s work in producing our version. He discusses the manuscripts and also previous editions (see his Introduction, pp. 9-18, the basis for the following brief summary) . As regards manuscripts, the earliest which survives dates to perhaps the second or third decade of the fourteenth century, and is described by Duvernoy as the sole near­ contemporary source of the complete text of the Chronicle. It is MS Latin 5212 in the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris, and is hence known as 'P'; it may well originate from Toulouse. Duvernoy also discusses four other surviving manu­ scripts, two of which appear to derive from a common source independent of 'P', but now lost (labelled 'C*'). He also suggests that Guillaume Catel' s text of the Chronicle, printed in his Histoire des comtes de Toulouse in 1 623, may draw on a source independent of any surviving manuscript, and which was also probably 'C*'. Other printed editions include in particular that of J. Beyssier, published in 1 904.1 Those referring to the Chronicle in work which appeared before Duvernay's edition of 1 976 usually quote from Beyssier, by reference to page numbers, and it should be noted that his edition uses chapter heading XVII twice. A version of Catel's text appears in the RHGF,2 and extracts from William of Puylaurens were also printed in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Scriptores) in 1 882.3 In preparing the translation our objective has been to produce a version in readable modern English which will at the same time closely reflect the sense of the Latin. Some comments on William's style appear below. Our interpretation of the Latin has occasionally differed from Duvernoy' s, but only on minor points, and we have felt it necessary to record only a very few of these in our notes. In rendering personal names we have somewhat arbitrarily used French, Latin or English forms, as seemed to us most suitable. There is no standard practice in respect of personal names amongst English writers. Although French writers nearly always use French forms, these can also vary, especially when the names cited are being transcribed from manuscript sources. We ourselves have used 1 J. Beyssier, 'Guillaume de Puylaurens et sa chronique', in Melanges d'histoire du moyen-age, ed. A. Luchaire, Bibliotheque de la Faculte des Lettres de Paris vol. 18 (Paris, 1904), pp. 1 1 9-75. 2 Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France XIX ( 1 833), pp. 193-225 (ed. M. J. J. Erial) , and XX ( 1 840), pp. 764-76 (ed. P. C. F. Daunou and J. Naudet) . 3 Ed. 0. Halder-Egger, in MGH (Scriptores) 26 ( 1 882), pp. 597-602.

• • •

:XVlll

Introduction

English forms where this seemed natural (e.g. John of Beaumont, Raymond­ Berengar of Provence, Blanche of Castile), French ones in most other cases, including where the French form is well established in English usage (e.g. Simon de Montfort), and Latin ones in a few others (e.g. the legate Romanus). In cases where the differences between forms of names may be significant, we have given the main variants in our notes. For place names we have used modern French forms (and are indebted to Duvernay's translation for many of these), except in a few cases where places outside modern France are mentioned and where we have used whatever form of the name is current amongst English speakers. The Chronicle is divided into fifty chapters of varying length. Each is headed by a summary or rubric, which we have translated. These summaries are apparently to be found in all the manuscripts, with only minor variations. They appear in the earliest surviving manuscript ('P' in Duvernoy's edition) and thus seem to be of early date, but it also seems clear that they were not William's own work. They are indeed inadequate as summaries: to take just one extreme example, the summary of the long chapter XLIII covers only the first short paragraph. We are confident also that the summary to chapter XI represents a misreading of the text - see n. 122 to that chapter. For these reasons we have also provided our own summaries, which appear in square brackets below the originals. These are in addition printed separately on pp. 3-6 to serve as a synopsis of the whole work. (Duvernoy also provides his own summaries, printed separately in the 'table des matieres' at the end of his edition, on pp. 223-30. ) The division of the translation into five sections has been introduced by us, simply for convenience. Like very many writers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries William had a good knowledge of Latin, and a wide vocabulary. However his prose does not flow freely. His style is frequently condensed and very tortuous, less straightfor­ ward than that of many of his contemporaries and often incapable of being rendered literally into English.4 William enjoys indulging in rhetoric - especially when he is commenting on events rather than merely relating them. A few examples of notably rhetorical flourishes are to be found in our notes. William frequently uses the historic present, usually it seems for no particular purpose, but then often switches arbitrarily between historic presents and ordinary past tenses in a single passage. 5 We have felt that to follow William 4 Duvernoy (p. 6) takes a similar view, referring to 'une construction affectee au point d'etre souvent ambigue qui tranche avec le latin de la pratique contemporaine'. In contrast the style of Peter of les Vaux­ de-Cernay is usually quite straightforward, the Latin of William Pelhisson extremely simple and lucid. The Latin of many of the leading prelates, as in the letter translated in Appendix A or those translated in HA, pp. 174-84, is again usually quite straightforward. Letters from the Papal Curia usually employ complex syntactical structures and much rhetoric; they are not always easy to translate although the meaning is generally clear. 5 To take two examples. The first comes in the two short sentences describing Simon de Montfort's mishap with his horse before the battle ofMuret towards the end of ch. XX. In the first sentence we have 'rumpitur' and 'reparatur'; in the next we have 'percussit' and 'mansit'. Second, in the passage in ch. XLI which in translation runs from 'However that very night . . . ' to 'dangers they would face by deserting . . . ', in the first sentence we have 'inducuntur et recipiuntur . . . coniuratur'; in the next two 'confugerunt, occurrerunt, occiderunt'; then in the next William reverts to the present tense with 'conantur . . . compelluntur'.

Introduction

•

XIX

closely in this respect would tend to irritate rather than enlighten the reader, especially since in modern English use of the historic present seems contrived and unnatural, and we have therefore translated these occurrences in a past tense. There are frequent biblical quotations or allusions and for these we have usually followed the King James version of the Bible. We have drawn attention to many but not all of these cases in footnotes. William quotes from classical authors on only four occasions and rarely makes classical allusions or references. Duvernoy provides a consolidated list of both biblical and other references in the 'table des citations' on p. 221 of his edition.

The notes and appendices The notes aim to supplement the translation, and are intended chiefly to help readers in understanding the text; to add points of especial interest; to point to other main sources of information; and (particularly with the non-specialist reader in mind) to set William's narrative in context and give a summary of events where his account is incomplete or his chronology is uncertain or confused. Since the Chronicle, although a relatively short work, covers such a long period we have of necessity had to be selective in what we have included in our notes. References to printed sources are almost all based on our own examination of them, although from time to time we have relied on citations by modern writers. In the later parts of the Chronicle ( chs. XLVII onwards) William recounts events which fall largely outside the main scope of his work (e.g. the conflict between Frederick II' s successors and the Papacy, Louis IX' s crusades, and events in England) . We have here tended to limit our notes and have sought to draw attention to secondary works which discuss these events, and which also give references to sources and further secondary literature. While many of the printed sources cited in our notes are also cited in Duvernoy' s, his notes are in places especially valuable because of his use (and selective quotation from) records of the work of inquisitors which are preserved in the manuscript collection in the Bibliotheque nationale in Paris (the Do at collection), and in the Toulouse Municipal Library manuscript 609 (known as Toulouse MS 609).6 These have been used extensively by Duvernoy (both in his edition of the Chronicle and in others of his publications) , and also by other writers, such as Roquebert, Griffe and Mundy, as well as by Barber, Brenon, Lambert and Wakefield. Drawing on their citations, we have referred to this 6 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale, Fonds Doat, being copies of thirteenth century inquisitors' records made in 1669 under the supervision of Jean de Doat, President of the Chambre de Comptes of Navarre in 166570; and Toulouse Bibliotheque municipale MS 609, now housed in Paris, being a register copied between 1258 and 1263, containing depositions mostly dating to 1245-6 taken as part of a large-scale enquiry in the Lauragais conducted by Bernard de Caux and Jean de Saint-Pierre. We have not consulted any of these MSS; the information given here is drawn in particular from the discussions of these sources in Barber, Cathars, p. 228; Griffe, Languedoc cathare, 1190 a 1210, pp. 16-18; and in Mundy, Society and Government, pp. 476-9, which largely repeats what may also be found in Mundy, Men and Women, pp. 2 1 3-18, and Mundy, Repression of Heresy, pp. 305-10.

XX

Introduction

evidence in some of our notes, but very selectively. In this and other respects our notes do not supersede Duvernay's, athough they contain much material, aimed especially at an English-speaking readership, which adds to or complements Duvnernoy' s notes. We have already acknowledged our debt to Duvernoy' s edition. It will be clear from our notes that we owe a great deal to many other published works. Abbreviated references are in general used in the notes. Full details of all items consulted are given in the Bibliography. To those who are familiar with the subjects covered by the Chronicle, and with the associated secondary literature, there will be little that is new in our notes. However we hope that they will help to guide newcomers to the more detailed study of the field, and provide a convenient reference point for those using this translation. The Appendices contain translations in whole or in part of a small selection of printed primary sources which are particularly relevant to William's own narrative, and which help to supplement it and set it in context. They are: the report of the papal legates to Pope Innocent III on the first few weeks of the Crusade in 1209; documents illustrating the attitude of the French kings to the Crusade (one of Philip Augustus and two of Louis VIII) ; the Treaty of Paris of 1229, which marked the end of the Crusade; and some letters of Pope Gregory IX relating mainly to the Inquisition, together with a summary of his relationship with Count Raymond VII of Toulouse. The documents are accompanied by some commentary and discussion.

The author's life In his Introduction, pp. 1-5, Duvernoy gives full details of what is known of William's life from documentary records, or what can be surmised from the Chronicle itself. What follows here is partly based on Duvernoy' s account, and on several articles on William by Yves Dossat.7 The author's name does not appear in the Chronicle itself, but the earliest surviving manuscript ('P ' in Duvernay's edition: see above) states 'Incipit cronica a magistro Guillelmo de Podio Laurenti compilata', and other MSS refer to the author in similar terms. Duvernoy (p. 1 ) quotes from De fundatione et prioribus conventuum, the work of Bernard Gui, the Dominican historian of the early fourteenth century (and a prominent inquisitor) , a reference to our author as 'Verax laudeque ac memoria dignus eterna pre cunctis generationis huius magister Guillermus, rector ecclesie de Podio Laurencii, origine tamen 7 Duvernoy (Introduction, p. 1 ) himself acknowledges his debt to Dossat: ' . . . ce nom, maitre Guillaume de Puylaurens, se retrouve dans divers actes parvenus jusqu' a no us, dont M. Yves Dossat a fait un inventaire particulierement diligent dans deux etudes qui contiennent a peu pres tout ce que l' on sait ou peut deduire de l' auteur de la Chronique'. The two studies are: 'Le Chroniqueur Guillaume de Puylaurens etait-il chapelain de Raymond VII ou notaire de !'Inquisition toulousaine', AM LXV ( 1953), pp. 343-54; and 'A propos du chroniqueur Guillaume de Puylaurens', in Actes du XXIIe congres de la Federation des Societes Academiques et Savantes Languedoc-Pyrenees-Gascogne ( 1 967), pp. 47-52. Both are reprinted in Dossat, Eglise et heresie. In addition Dossat has summarised his views in 'La croisade vue par les chroniqueurs', CF vol. 4, pp. 234-42. See n. 13 below for further comment on these articles.

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XXI

Tholosanus': 'A man veracious and worthy of praise and eternal memory above all others of this generation, Master William, rector of the church of Puylaurens, but a Toulousain by origin'.8 William's name (usually coupled with the title of magister) is then to be found in numerous acts from 1237 onwards. In 1237 he is referred to as magister and rector of Puylaurens; in 1238 as prior of Puylaurens, and in 1 245 as capellanus (chaplain) of the place. We do not know when William was born. On the basis of the reference in ch. I to William having seen, whilst he was still a child, Isarn Neblat the former lord of Verfeil, then a centenarian, Duvernoy argues that he was probably born in the very early years of the thirteenth century. However in ch. II William refers to himself as having been an infans when he heard mention of Bernard Raymond 'the Arian', which he says was long before ( 'longe ante') the arrival of the crusaders at Beziers ( 1209); this might suggest that he was born somewhat earlier than 1200.9 E. Griffe affirms (Languedoc, cathare, 1 1 90 a 121 0, p. 14 n. 5) that in his youth he lived 'dans la familiarite' of Bishop Fulk; his later career and his knowledge of Latin confirm that he will have received a thorough and privileged education in Church circles from an early age. References in the Chronicle seem to confirm his presence in Toulouse during his early years. For example the descriptions of the departure of the White Confraternity for the siege of Lavaur ( ch. XVI) , of the massacre of the French prisoners at le Pujol ( ch. XIX), of the pitiful fate of the Toulousain population after the battle of Muret in 1213 (ch. XXI), and of Simon de Montfort's punitive action against Toulouse in 1216 ( ch. XXVI) all suggest ­ although there can be no certainty - that William may personally have witnessed these events rather than merely heard of them later from those who had been present in the city at the time. Moving forward some years Duvernoy reasonably surmises that - having by this time achieved a certain standing in the Catholic Church - William was during the period 1228-30 in the entourage of Bishop Fulk, since the Chronicle gives a great amount of detail in describing matters involving Fulk at this time. These include events at Labecede and Lavilledieu ( ch. XXXV ); the destruction of crops around Toulouse in 1228 ( ch. XXXVI) ; the penitence of Count Raymond VII at Paris in 1229 (ch. XXXV II); the Council of Toulouse in 1229 and Fulk's subsequent activities in Toulouse in 1229-3 1 ( ch. XXXVIII) ; and the exchanges between Raymond VII and the Bishop in 1230 recounted at the end that chapter. There are other cases when William recounts episodes about which he had clearly been told in person by Fulk. 10 Indeed Fulk obviously made a great impression on William and parts of his Chronicle verge on a panegyric of the Bishop. 8

Puylaurens was an important castrum about SOkm east of Toulouse. Like many other places in the area at the time the Albigensian Crusade started it was a thriving centre of heresy. Sicard, the lord of Puylaurens, also held the lordship of several other neighbouring castra. His mother Ermessende was a heretic. See Griffe, Languedoc cathare, 1190 a 1210, esp. pp. 94-6. Puylaurens changed hands three times in the early years of the Crusade (PVC §§230, 251 and 309), at which time the lordship had been given by Simon de Montfort to Guy de Lucy. Later the lordship was given to Foucaud de Berzy, for whom see chs. XXIX and XXXI ; it reverted to the control of Sicard after its recapture by the southerners in 1220 ( ch. XXXI ), and we find William as a witness to Sicard's will in 1237 (see below). 9 If we assume that 'longe ante' implies not later than say 1204, and that William would have been at least six or seven years old to have retained a recollection of Bernard Raym ond. 10 See for example ch. VI on the episcopate of Fulcrand of Toulouse; ch. VII on Fulk's assumption of office as bishop; and ch. XXIII on Raymond de Ricaud and Fulk.

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There are a number of occasions when Fulk' s qualities, especially his compassion and generosity, are drawn to our attention; examples are given in ch. XXXIV, and see also n. 23 below. William is also keen to highlight Fulk' s efforts to restore the finances of the see of Toulouse ( cf. in particular chs. VI and XXXIX) . It is also reasonable to assume that William was fairly close to Fulk's successor Bishop Raymond de Falgar, following the latter's election in 123 1 . He clearly knew the circumstances surrounding Raymond's election ( ch. XL) . Thereafter he refers to some details of Raymond's activity as bishop. For example, although in ch. XLI he skates over events in Toulouse in the period 1 234-8, in that same chapter he shows a close knowledge of Bishop Raymond's presence at the siege of Carcassonne in 1240, and in ch. XLIII a knowledge of the negotiations leading to the Peace of Lorris in 1242. We also find William described in an act of 1241 as notary to the Bishop of Toulouse (HGL VI, p. 733 ) . On the other hand he does not seem to have been as close to Raymond de Falgar as he was to Fulk, and gives fewer details of his episcopate. As we have noted, William's name begins to appear in various acts from 1237 onwards, and he is usually referred to as a priest or rector of Puylaurens, east of Toulouse. The earliest record shows him as a witness to the will of Sicard of Puylaurens in October or November of 1237; he is described as magister and rector of Puylaurens. In the following March he appears again as magister, but described as prior of Puylaurens, in connection with some ecclesiastical causes. 1 1 We have already mentioned his appearance in an act of 1241 as notary to the Bishop of Toulouse. A change in William's position then occurred about the beginning of the year 1245, since between March of that year and February 1 248 we find him appearing in various acts12 as the Chaplain ('capellanus') of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse.13 We may also note that on 1 7 July 1245 a Master William, 11 'Magister Guillellmus de Podio Laurentia, prior eiusdem castri et judex domini episcopi Tholosani in causis ecclesiasticis'. For both these references see Dossat, 'A propos du chroniqueur Guillaume de Puylaurens', p. 52. 12 These include: HGL VIII, 1 199-1200; Layettes II, nos. 3241 ( Willelmus de Podio Laurentia, Feb. 1245, at Toulouse), 3467 (March 1246, at Toulouse), 3468 ( Guillelmus de Podio Laurentia capellanus dicti domini comitis, March 1246), 3514 ( Guillelmus de Podio Laurentia capellanus ipsius domini comitis), 3531, and III, 3638; see Duvernay, p. 3 n. 6 for other refs. 13 Some French scholars, notably Yves Dossat, have argued for the existence of two 'Williams of Puylaurens': one who was Raymond VII's Chaplain and another who was an individual to whom most if not all the references outside the period 1245-8 should be applied. Authorship of the Chronicle is then attributed to this latter person. The argument is explored at length in the articles by Dossat referred to in n. 7 above. Duvernay (p. 5) firmly rejects the need to postulate two contemporary Williams ofPuylaurens, and indeed it does seem highly probable that if there had been two men of the same name, both quite prominent clerics, living in the same area at the same time, we would find some reference to this in contemporary or near-contemporary sources. This is especially so since, to judge from Bernard Gui' s comments noted above, the Chronicle and its author rapidly gained a wide reputation. The major reason which is advanced for doubting whether Raymond's Chaplain could have written the Chronicle is the strongly pro-Church and pro-French stance taken by its author, which might be thought inappropriate for a close associate of Raymond. However, against this it may be argued that, as noted earlier, William was perfectly capable of criticising the crusaders, and that his loyalty to the Church and the fight against heresy was in no way to the exclusion of strong feelings for his native land, and a clear appreciation of the standing and position of the counts of Toulouse. It may also be noted that by 1245, following the peace of Lorris in January 1243, relations between Raymond, the Church and King Louis IX were reasonably amicable; Raymond's actions against participants in the massacre at Avignonet taken shortly after the

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undoubtedly our author, appeared before Cardinal Octavian in an enquiry into the validity of the marriage between the Count and Marguerite of la Marche (see ch. XLIII, and n. 94) . He tells the enquiry that he had assisted at the marriage (or betrothal) and that it was there decided that a dispensation should be obtained from the Church after a delay of one year and that Isabella, Countess of la Marche, asked him twice to go to Rome for this purpose. He responded that in this he would follow the Count's wishes. Isabella then demanded that he should take Marguerite to the Count - he refused to do so in the absence of a dispensation. 14 In July 1247 William, Chaplain to the Count, appears as a witness to an act in which Raymond VII designated Raymond d'Alfaro to represent him in the enquiry into whether the body of his father (Raymond VI) could be allowed to receive a Christian burial. 15 In the text of the Chronicle itself, he gives what appear to be first hand accounts of some events in Raymond's last years, and his close knowledge of the circumstances of Raymond's death in September 1249 suggest that he may have been present with the Count ( ch. XLVI) . In December 1249 William appears as a witness to the oaths of loyalty sworn by nobles and consuls before representatives of Alphonse of Poitiers, Raymond's successor. 16 William was involved in the enquiries conducted by papal inquisitors in Languedoc in 1253 and 1254.17 There is then a considerable gap in references to him until 1273 when (master William of Puylaurens' is cited as a witness by Aimeric de Rouaix (a member of the prominent Toulousain family) in a case in which his rights to certain lands given to him by Raymond VII were being contested by Royal officials. 18 In fine, although we have no early authoritative account of his life and must rely on references in contemporary documents supplemented by the internal evidence provided by the Chronicle, a reasonably clear picture emerges of a man probably born about 1 200 or a little earlier in Toulouse, who became a learned magister, and took his surname from Puylaurens of whose church he was for some time rector in the later 1230s and 1240s. He was much involved in the affairs of the bishopric of Toulouse at the middle level in different capacities, and in particular he was a close associate of Bishop Fulk (for whom he clearly had a very high regard) . He knew Raymond de Falgar, Fulk's successor, and in the later 1240s he was for a time Chaplain to Count Raymond VII of Toulouse. The last events recorded in the Chronicle (Philip III's intervention in Foix peace (see end of ch. XLIII) and later (ch. XLVI) against the heretics at Agen seem to show that he had become much more committed to actively supporting the Church. Moreover the author of the Chronicle shows a close familiarity with events concerning Raymond during this period, and with the circumstances of his death. In addition, the fact that he is twice able to quote comments made by the Count (in regard to the battle of Muret in ch. XXI, and in regard to the character of Simon de Montfort in ch. XXVIII) suggests a close association with the Count, rather than occasional encounters as Dossat suggests. There can be no certainty, but we have little doubt that Duvernay's assessment is correct and that there was only one William. 14 See HGL VIII, 1 1 8 1-2 and VI, pp. 775-6. 15 See Duvernay p. 4 n. 1, and cf. ch. XLV, n. 26. 16 HGL VIII, 1262, 1265. See also n. 44 to ch. XLVI. 17 References to Toulouse MS 609, and Doat, given by Duvernay, p. 4 nn. 3 and 5; cf. also Dossat, Crises, p. 179. 18 See Y. Dossat, 'Le chroniqueur Guillaume de Puylaurens etait-il chapelain de Raymond VII ou notaire de !'inquisition toulousaine?', AM LXV ( 1 953), p. 349.

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described in ch. L) relate to the years 1273-6. In that chapter King James I of Aragon is referred to as still living; he died on 26 July 1 276, and it is thus reasonable to assume that the Chronicle itself was completed in 1275/6, and that William probably died at about this time.

The composition of the Chronicle and its value as a source William tells us in his Prologue that his purpose is to record the struggle against heresy in the South, which he defines as the ecclesiastical province of Narbonne and the dioceses of Albi, Rodez, Cahors and Agen, 'and certain territories of the Count beyond the Rhone'. He says the struggle lasted for almost seventy years. 19 It is possible that William would have set out to produce a conventional 'chronicle', in which events would be recorded year by year. Certainly, his later chapters tend to read as if this was so, and to an extent this plan is followed throughout. The initial chapters (Prologue and chapters I-XII) deal with the spread of heresy in the South and its strong hold on the region. They describe some of the measures taken to combat heresy, including the preaching campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III in 1203; in particular there are details of the colloquia at Verfeil, Pamiers and Montreal in 1206-7, involving Bishop Diego of Osma, the future St Dominic, and Cistercian monks. These chapters also include illus­ trative digressions, as well as digressions on the genealogy of the Counts of Toulouse (ch. V), the marriage of Peter of Aragon to Maria of Montpellier (ch. XI), and Raymond VI's brother, Baldwin (ch. XII). Chapters XIII - XXXVII then cover the Albigensian Crusade ( 1 209-29) . Events in Toulouse or directly concerning it receive close attention: these include the siege of Lavaur in 1213 ( ch. XVI), the battle of Muret in the same year ( chs. XX-XXI) , and the occupation of Toulouse in 1 2 1 6 by Simon de Montfort (chs. XXVII-XXVIII). Chapters XXXVIII-XLVI deal with the aftermath of the Crusade, including the early development of the Inquisition in Languedoc in the 1230s, again with particular reference to Toulouse. The Chronicle includes many important details of these years, and of the subsequent decade, up to the death of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse in September 1249. Those relating to the Count himself (including his marital projects), and to Bishop Fulk, receive especial attention. The Chronicle is also for example the only narrative account to mention the siege and capture of the Cathar stronghold of Montsegur in 1243-4 ( ch. XLIV). The death of Raymond VII in 1249 is described in ch. XLVI; from then onwards ( chs. XLVII-L) the Chronicle begins to deal increasingly with the affairs of the French kingdom, including the two crusades of King Louis IX in 1248-54 and 1 270. It also mentions the struggle between Henry III and his barons in England in the 1260s, and the conflict between the Empire and the Papacy both before and after the death of Frederick II in 1250. There is relatively little that 1 9 Duvernay (p. 23 n. 2 to Prologue) suggests that William is taking the appointment of Peter of Castelnau as legate in 1203 as his starting point, and the war against the Count of Foix in 1272 as the last episode in the struggle.

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XXV

directly concerns the Midi until the final chapters which cover the deaths of Alphonse of Poitiers and his wife Joan of Toulouse in 12 7 1 , the death of Bishop Raymond de Falgar of Toulouse in 1 270, and the conflict between the new King of France (Philip III) and the Count of Foix in 1272. Although it is inherently probable that the Chronicle was composed over a period, perhaps quite a long period, we agree with Duvernoy (p. 8) in rejecting suggestions by Dossat and Beyssier that a distinct break can be identified between ch. XLVI and the later chapters: the internal evidence of the text does not suggest this. However, within the overall framework so far described William is decidedly selective in treating events. Some are covered in great detail, others receive only cursory treatment or are omitted. For example, his reference to the assassination of Peter of Castelnau at the end of ch. IX is very brief and he fails to make the point that this was the event that triggered the Crusade. In telling us that Count Raymond VI joined the crusaders as they advanced down the Rhone valley in July 1209 he does not mention the penance Raymond had undergone at Saint­ Gilles in the preceding month (see PVC §§77-9). Again, the military activity in the early years of the Crusade is not dealt with systematically, and some important events such as the major sieges of Minerve and Termes are not mentioned, although the sieges of les Casses and Lavaur and the battle of Castelnaudary ( ch. XVIII) are given adequate treatment. William makes no mention of the important Council of Lavaur in January 1 2 1 3, nor of Pope Innocent III's suspension of the Crusade in that month. He himself acknow­ ledges ( ch. XLI) that he gives little detail of the events in Toulouse in the mid1230s which involved the expulsion of the Dominican inquisitors in 1235 and the suspension of their work in 1 238. Somewhat earlier, the special attention given to the activities of the brothers de Berzy ( chs. XXIX and XXXI ) is probably to be explained by the fact that Foucaud de Berzy was at the time of his death lord of Puylaurens. Bearing in mind what we know of William's life it seems reasonable to suppose that many of the episodes which receive particular attention were those which he witnessed personally, or played a part in, or knew about from the testimony of eyewitnesses. This would apply to some of the earlier content of the Chronicle20 and to most of the content covering the period from, say, 1220 at least to the death of Raymond VII in 1249. He may also have passed over some events especially in the earlier years of the Crusade either because they had faded from memory over the years, or simply because by the time he came to record them they may have seemed of minor importance. For example, the Pope's suspension of the Crusade in January 1213 had only a temporary effect (see n. 72 to ch. XX), and the battle of Muret later that year rendered the arguments rehearsed at the Council of Lavaur irrelevant. Moving to the 1230s, Duvernoy 20

We have drawn attention above (p. xxi) to events which William may himself have witnessed in this early period. He also occasionally gives the names of eyewitnesses, e.g. William, Bishop of Albi, in ch. III and ch. IV; Abbot Maury of Pamiers who told the story about de Montfort before the battle of Muret ( ch. XX); and the younger Raymond for the battle of Muret ( ch. XXI). Doubtless he could have called on other eyewitnesses for the battle. His descriptions of the debates at Verfeil and Pamiers ( ch. VIII) also seem to have used eyewitness accounts.

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(p. 153 n. 7) suggests that William's apparent ignorance of the confession of Raymond Gros at Toulouse in April 1 236,21 and of other business at Toulouse at the time, may have been a result of his residing in his parish at Puylaurens during that period. On balance, however, the fact that he was in a position to write with authority about so many of the events he describes, especially those occurring in his adult life, much outweighs any gaps in his account. William's chronology is sometimes problematic. At times it can clearly be demonstrated that he is wrong (for instance over the question of which legate was in office when the Dominicans were appointed as inquisitors, ch. XLI, n. 49) . For other difficulties with his chronology of events between 1230 and 1234 see nn. 48 and 60 on pp. 9 1 and 94 respectively. At other times his ordering of events is confusing, as in his account of events in 1 2 10- 1 1 (ch. XVII) or in the mid1220s (ch. XXXII) . The Chronicle differs very much in its general approach from the other two main narrative sources for the Albigensian Crusade (Peter of les Vaux-de­ Cernay (PVC) and the Chanson) , but where the three accounts can be directly compared there is general agreement on factual matters: we tend to find differences in detail and presentation rather than of substance.22 It is possible that William may have been familiar with both PVC and the Chanson. Duvernoy (p. 8) suggests that it is almost certain ('il est a peu pres certain') that William had copies of both PVC and the Chanson. E. Martin-Chabot comments ( Chanson I, pp. :xxv-:xxvi) that William may have heard the Chanson recited even if he did not have a copy in writing, and there are echoes of the Chanson for example in ch. XXI (cf. Duvernoy, p. 83 n. 5 ) . See also nn. 9 and 1 2 to ch. XIV for possible echoes of PVC, which may point at the very least to William having been familiar with the work. It is then appropriate to consider whether William's sincere Catholic beliefs, his loyalty to the Church, and his consequent dislike of heresy justify any strong reservations about his reliabilty. The basic answer is (no', and here we may contrast the attitude of Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, who regarded anyone who opposed the Crusade as utterly evil, with that of William, whose approach is quite different and much more moderate, critical, and measured. It is certainly true that William repeatedly makes clear his firm opposition to heresy, and that he sees the Crusade as a justified reaction by the Catholic 21 See Pelhisson, pp. 92-5, trans. Wakefield, pp. 223-4. 22 To take two examples: firstly, the accounts of the Chanson, PVC and the Chronicle of the fate of the garrison of Pujol differ somewhat. The Chanson (II, 132-4, pp. 4-1 1, Shirley, pp. 66-7) says Pujol was taken by assault and that the whole garrison was either put to the sword or hanged. PVC (§§434-5) says the two knights holding the fort, Roger des Essarts and Simon the Saxon, surrendered and were then taken to Toulouse, dragged by horses through the streets and hanged. William ( ch. XIX) says that Roger des Essarts was killed during the fighting; he then agrees with PVC that the garrison surrendered on a promise of safety, although Simon the Saxon was at this point killed by the 'crowd' ('a vulgo subito interfectus') ­ probably indicating the rank and file, as opposed to the knights and their attendants, but perhaps including camp followers. Again he agrees with Peter that the survivors of the garrison were taken as captives to Toulouse, but says that a mob ('populari concursu') came to slaughter them; they were then dragged like carrion outside the city. Secondly, on the death of Simon de Montfort, William ( ch. XXVIII) says that Simon died immediately after being struck by a missile from a mangonel, and the Chanson (III, 205, pp. 206-8, Shirley, p. 172) by implication agrees that he died immediately since it says his skull was shattered by a missile fired from a petrary. PVC (§612) says he was five times wounded by arrows before being struck by a missile from a mangonel, and that he survived long enough to commit his soul to God.

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Church to the heretics as enemies of the Church and the Christian faith. We may note also how, as well as identifying in his Prologue the negligence of prelates and princes and the sins of the people as having caused the spread of heresy, he goes on in ch. II to blame especially the neglect of successive Counts of Toulouse. Much later, in ch. XXXVIII, he recounts Bishop Fulk's belief that many of the difficulties in combating heresy after the Treaty of Paris were because of Raymond VII's inaction. His view of heresy and support for the Church does perhaps colour his attitude to the French crown, since from about 1226 when Louis VIII firmly committed the crown to pursuing the Crusade, William clearly identifies the French crown as the champion of the Church. (Later this also leads him to take a strongly hostile attitude to the Emperor Frederick II and his successsors, and a very favourable view of Charles of Anjou - see ch. XLVII and notes. ) However, a close study of the Chronicle would not support a view that William in general allowed his faith or his loyalties to induce him to falsify or distort his record of events, inadvertently or otherwise. On the contrary, a strong impression emerges of an intelligent and fair-minded man, keen to give a true account ('verax' to quote Bernard Gui again) , and aware of the complexity of the Church's problems in the Midi. He understood the significance of the economic problems of the bishopric of Toulouse (see ch. VI) and of the low esteem in which the clergy were held, especially by the territorial lords (Prologue). Despite the criticisms noted above of Raymond VII and his predecessors, William was by no means hostile to the counts of Toulouse, whom he recognises as members of one of the most important dynasties in western Christendom. If anything, the disasters brought upon them and their lands by the Crusade and by their failure to eradicate heresy were a tragedy: at the end of ch. XLVI William notes the grief caused by the death of Raymond VII, the last 'natural lord' of Toulouse, observing that the extinction of the line was a punishment for heresy. At times William certainly seems to write much more as a detached observer than a committed partisan. The most notable examples of this are his stringent comments on the behaviour of the crusaders in ch. XXV, and at the end of ch. XXVIII after recording the death of Simon de Montfort; his implied criticism near the end of ch. XXVI of de Montfort's rule in Toulouse after the Fourth Lateran Council; and in ch. XXVII his strong criticism of de Montfort for allowing himself to be misled by love of money into following false counsel. One reason for the long conflict between the Church and the principal southern lords was the inability or unwillingness of churchmen generally to understand (let alone make allowances for) the tolerant or sympathetic attitude of so many of the local population (including many of the nobility) to the Cathars and their followers. William seems to have been unusual amongst his contemporaries in having appreciated this point. In ch. VI for example he shows a significant, albeit qualified, understanding of Count Raymond VI's difficulties in dealing with heresy. Particularly telling is his often quoted record (at the end of ch. VIII) of the comments of Pons Adhemar of Roudeille in response to Bishop Fulk: 'Said the Bishop: "So why do you not expel them [the heretics] from your territory?" He replied: "We cannot; we were brought up with them, there are many of our relatives amongst them, and we can see that their way of

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life is a virtuous one." ' This shows that William was well aware of local attitudes, and suggests that he will in consequence have had some understanding of the practical problems they created for the Counts of Toulouse in seeking to carry out the Church's policy towards heresy. Overall therefore an impression emerges of a discerning and fair-minded man, inclined by nature to give a true rather than a distortedly partisan account. We have mentioned his high regard for Bishop Fulk, whom he frequently represents as a generous and compassionate man,23 and it is perhaps not too much to suggest that the Bishop served as his role model. William describes the victors at Muret as 'God's champions [who] overcame the enemies of the Cross', but he is still able to share the sorrows of the Toulousains after the battle ( ch. XXI), and also later ( ch. XLVI) when they mourn the loss of their last 'natural ruler', Raymond VII. In ch. XXXVII he tells us that it was pitiful to see the indignity suffered by Raymond VII when he had to undergo the ceremony of reconciliation with the Church after the Treaty of Paris, and he seems to sympathise with the Count's efforts to ensure a Christian burial for his father's body (with which he was in any case probably directly involved when he was in Raymond VII's service), rather than empathising with the attitude of the Church hierarchy ( ch. XLV). The Chronicle covers a long period, in varying degrees of detail and with important omissions, but given these limitations and bearing in mind the points made above, a sound conclusion is that it provides a reliable if often incomplete record, generally free of distortions. Its greatest value is that it gives an insight, often a penetrating insight, into events of the period as seen by an intelligent and even shrewd contemporary who himself played a part in some of those events.

The translation and use of various terms

Geographical terms associated with the Crusade The region affected by the Albigensian Crusade was that part of southern France stretching from Marseille in the east to Aquitaine in the west, and for which see Map 1 . It included Provence, the lower Rhone valley, Quercy, the Rouergue, the Agenais, the county of Toulouse, the Trencavel viscounties based on Beziers and Carcassonne, and the various counties and viscounties such as Foix, Couserans, and Comminges which stretched southwards to the Pyrenees. French writers often refer to this area as le Midi; in the translation and notes we have generally used the terms 'the South' or 'the Midi' to denote this whole area. In more recent years a further broad term 'Occitania' has gained currency as an 23 The most notable examples of Fulk' s compassion as presented by William are to be found in ch. XXXV, when at Labecede he took on himself the task of saving the women and children from the massacre by the crusaders of the inhabitants generally; and when a little later at Lavilledieu he arranged the escape of twelve rebellious young men, 'for if the army [the crusaders] were to come they would inevitably be condemned to hang'. His generosity is remarked on especially in ch. XXXIV, where William says that Fulk was universally respected for his kindness and the labours he had undertaken for the faith. His concern for his flock, the Toulousains, is noted in ch. XV, and in ch. XXXVI, where we have: 'Thus it was compassion that governed the good father's attitude to his children; taking God as his model he wished not death for sinners, but their conversion, so that they might live.' Although Fulk was unremitting in his hostility to heretics or any he saw as their supporters, William's evidence does suggest that he was a humane man.

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alternative to these others, denoting the area in the South in which Occitan, the distinctive southern speech, was spoken. This was a wider area than that affected by the Crusade. The term denotes the region in which 'oc' rather than 'oi:l' (modern 'oui') was used to mean 'yes'. The langue d'oc was of course a Romance language derived from Latin, but it was very different to the French spoken in the north, and its nearest relative today is probably Catalan. We have not ourselves used the term Occitania, but for discussion of it see J. R. Strayer, The Albigensian Crusades (New York, 1 9 7 1 ) ch. 1 ; Linda M. Paterson, The World of the Troubadours (Cambridge, 1 994), pp. 1-3; and eds. X. de Planhol with P. Claval, An Historical Geography of France (Cambridge and Paris, 1994), pp. 1 22-34. Another term with a wide meaning is 'Languedoc'. Literally, this means the area in which the langue d'oc was spoken, but it can exclude Provence east of the Rhone, and certainly excludes Aquitaine. We have used Languedoc in a wide sense in the introduction and notes to this translation, essentially to refer to the areas affected by the Crusade.24 (When used in the context of modern France, however, Languedoc has a rather narrower meaning.) Ecclesiastical writers of the time frequently referred to this whole area as Provincia, in contrast in particular to Francia or Gallia which meant northern France, i.e. the area where the French language (the langue d'oil) was spoken (see also n. 1 1 7 to ch. X below) . Although the various terms concerned are of course never closely defined by contemporary writers, William himself consistently refers to northern France as Francia, and, like his contemporaries generally, never includes the South in the term. He refers to the French, i.e. the inhabitants of Francia, as Gallici. Provincia is also used in a narrower sense to refer to territories in the lower Rhone valley, especially the marquisate of Provence and the county of Provence (see chs. XXIII, XXV, XL, and XLI-II for examples of this usage in the Chronicle) ; and also to denote an ecclesiastical province, as in the reference to the province of Narbonne in William's Prologue. The use of the term 'Albigensis', 'Albigensian' (or related terms including 'Albiensis') to designate the heretics of the Midi or the areas in which they flourished is occasionally found in the second half of the twelfth century. By about 1 2 1 0 it seems to have become widely used, by the northern French at least. For example Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, probably writing around 12 12-13, comments in his introduction (§4): 'the general term Albigensians is used frequently in this History to refer to the heretics of Toulouse and other cities and towns and their defenders'. Why this should have come about, since Albi and the Albigeois were by no means the only or even the principal centres of heresy, is open to debate. HGL VII, note XIII, consists of a very long discussion by Dom Vaissete on the origin of the use of the term; in the nineteenth century edition Molinier dismisses Vaissete' s note in somewhat cavalier fashion. 25 Despite Molinier' s comment Vaissete does reach a conclusion, viz. that the reason the term came into general 24 See also the brief discussion of the term in Wakefield, pp. 50-1. 25 HGL VII, pp. 33-8. He says in a footnote on p. 37: 'D. Vaissete eut pu se dispenser de cette longue discussion qui ne conclut pas; le texte de Geoffroy de Vigeois, qu'il cite, suffit pour prouver que le nom d'Albigeois est plus ancien qu'il ne le suppose.'

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use was that the French crusaders adopted it to apply to all the southern heretics after they came south because they associated the heretics with the domains of Raymond Roger, who was Viscount of Albi, Beziers, Carcassonne and the Razes. (His note concludes thus: 'en sorte que le nom d'albigeois qui fut d' abord particulier aux heretiques qui habitoient dans les domaines du meme vicomte, fut donne bientot apres generalement par les etrangers, a tous ceux qui etoient dans les Etats de Raimond VI, comte de Toulouse, dans le reste de la Province, & dans les pays voisins.') Whilst the usage seems quickly to have become general amongst the northern French it was not universally adopted, at least during the period of the Crusade; Vaissete notes only one usage in the letters of Pope Innocent III of 'Albigensian' as an epithet for the heretics, and a moderate sampling of the letters of Pope Honorius III and other papal correspondence of his time suggests that the use of the term in this context was not then usually favoured by the Curia and the southern prelates;26 however we find numerous references to partes Albigenses in letters of Gregory IX in the 1230s.27 As to the Chronicle itself, we can probably discount the occurrence of Albiensis in the summary to William's Prologue (almost certainly not William's own work - see p. xviii above) and where the writer of the summary, presumably a southerner, is in effect identifying the use of the term as French. Otherwise, we find in the Chronicle only one use of Albigensis (and none of Albiensis) to refer to heretics or heresy or the Crusade; this is in ch. XXXII where the phrase 'negocium Albigense' is used when William is quoting a comment by King Philip Augustus of France, as related to him by Bishop Fulk. In fact William has no term to refer to the area of the Crusade as a whole, although (as noted earlier) he does in his Prologue define the area infected by heresy by reference to the current ecclesiastical divisions and 'certain territories of the Count of Toulouse beyond the Rhone'. Subsequently when referring to the whole or a substantial part of the area he simply uses terra. For further comment on some of these terms see HA, Appendix (A) (i)-(iii) pp. 28 1-3, and on Albi and the Albigeois HA, p. 6 n. 1 0.28 /

Miles, milites The term miles (plural milites) literally means 'soldier' in classical Latin. In western Europe in the ninth century it became synonymous with the term vassal, 26 As noted immediately above, generally the popes and prelates seem to define the heretics by reference to 'partes Provinciae' or 'Provincia' (i.e. the South), or to the ecclesiastical province of Narbonne; often they simply talk of 'heretics', apparently seeing no need to define them or their location. By contrast we find the two later legates, Conrad and Romanus, both (especially Romanus) closely connected with the French court, using 'Albigensian'; as examples, Conrad in HGL VIII, col. 766, refers to 'those who are again crucifying Christ in the Albigensian area (Albigensium partibus)' and the legate Romanus refers in HGL VIII, col. 817 to 'Albigenses hereticos'. In the two documents of King Louis VIII written in 1224 and translated in Appendix B there are several references to the Albigeois ('terra Albigesii', 'Albigesium', 'partes Albigesii', 'negotium Albigesii' ). 27 E.g. Auvray, Les Registres de Gregoire IX II, 2711 ('terra nobilis viri comitis Tholosani et partibus Albigensibus'), 3126, 3138 (addressed to Louis IX, 7 May 1236, 'partibus Albigensibus' twice), 3699 ('Albigen[sium] ac Provinciae partibus'), 4337. 28 Cf. discussion of terms to refer to the South (e.g. Langue d'Oc, Provincia, terra Albigensis, partes Albigensium, etc.) in HGL XII, pp. 130-4; also J. L. Biget (ed.), Histoire d'Albi (Toulouse, 1983), p. 56.

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and by the tenth and eleventh centuries had come to refer to the military elite, 'knights' performing or owing military service to a lord. 29 The term also gained social as well as military connotations, so that a miles would often have a certain noble status as well as being an elite warrior. In twelfth and thirteenth century Languedoc the term can denote in particular the middling and lesser territorial nobility, i.e. the lords of the castra, the smaller towns and fortified villages which dominated the region. From time to time William's usage clearly reflects the meaning of the word to refer to the local seigneurial class of middle and lower rank without any necessarily military connotation (e.g. twice in the Prologue, in ch. I - where we also have 'militari multitudine' - and in ch. IV) . The word can also occur in an urban context: for example in ch. IV we find a reference to 'milites et burgenses' at Lombers, while in ch. XV Aimeric of Castelnau and his brother Arnold, two of the leaders of Fulk' s White Confraternity in Toulouse, are referred to as 'milites', 'knights'. 30 Duvernoy usually translates milites as nobles. We have preferred to translate in the more usual way as 'knights', but the wider meanings should not be overlooked. For a discussion of the term 'knights' as used in Occitan society in the thirteenth century, see Linda M. Paterson, The World of the Troubadours (Cambridge, 1994), esp. pp. 38-44.

Castrum William generally uses the term castrum (plural castra) to describe most of the places he refers to - the main exceptions are the larger centres of population, including those which provided the seat for a bishop, usually referred to as civitates. He is fairly consistent in following this usage. His contemporaries generally seem to have followed the same practice. Basically castra were fortified settlements in which local seigneurial families and dependent populations lived. Usually, but by no means always, they were based on a castle or keep which would generally have dwellings around it, the whole perhaps surrounded by an outer wall. They varied greatly in size and type. Some were mere fortresses with dwellings and other buildings clustered around them (e.g. Termes, Cabaret, Hautpoul (near modern Mazamet) , or Montsegur) . Others like Fanjeaux, Minerve, Lavaur or Verfeil, were fortified villages or small towns. Some, like Moissac or Castres, could be quite large with a substantial population. Castra were very numerous in the South at this time; most of those specifically referred to by William were amongst the larger and more important ones. There is no single word in English which adequately covers the full range of meanings of castrum, and we have therefore not translated it but used the Latin word itself. 3 1 This follows the practice we adopted in HA, which in turn followed 29 Cf., for example, F. L. Ganshof, Feudalism, 3rd English ed. (London, 1964), p. 69, and M. Bloch, Feudal Society, 2nd ed. (London, 1962), pp. 1 61-2. 3° Cf. the discussion of milites and burgenses in Toulouse in Mundy, Society and Government, pp. 32-7; and on milites in Toulouse, P. Wolff, 'La noblesse toulousaine: essai sur son histoire medievale', in Wolff, Regards sur le Midi medieval (Toulouse, 1978), pp. 2 1 3-3 1 . 3 1 Two exceptions are in ch. VIII, where Diego and Dominic are said to have walked de castro in castrum, preaching, which we have here translated as 'from place to place'; and ch. XVII, where castrum appears to be used in the classical sense of a fortified miltary camp, and we have translated as 'camp'.

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Introduction

the practice of some modern French historians. A fuller discussion of the meanings of the term will be found in HA, Appendix A, pp. 283-5. See also the discussion of castra and the nobility of the South in M. Costen, The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade, pp. 43-7, which has some helpful further references.

Other words for inhabited places William also uses other terms to describe places he mentions. For example in ch. XIX le Pujol is a fortium; in ch. XXXVIII Meaux-en-Brie is a civitas; while in ch. XLVI Prix near Rodez is a villa, although only a very small place. Sometimes the meaning of these terms is perfectly clear, but in others it is less so and interpretation depends in part on local topography and a knowledge of the site in question. William uses villae and opida in combination three times. In his Prologue he tells us that the heretics had established themselves 'per villas et opida', and in ch. XIV how after the fall of Carscassonne the local population deserted their 'villas' and fled their 'opida', in contrast to the 'castra fortia' of Cabaret, Minerve and Termes which continued to resist: the contrast here is between less well fortified places and the last three seemingly impregnable strongholds. In ch. XXXI II William tells us that in 1226 as King Louis' forces approached, the consuls 'ex villis et oppidis que erant co mitis Tholosani'32 rushed to meet them. In the same chapter we are told that the citizens of Avignon, fearing problems if Louis' forces were allowed to enter the 'villa', closed the gates of the 'civitas'; here Duvernoy translates villa as faubourg. In medieval Latin opidum (normally used instead of the usual classical form oppidum) often seems to mean a castle and William is perhaps using it to refer to lesser fortified places generally. What seems a maverick use of villa occurs in reference to Toulouse in ch. XIX when we are told that the prisoners from le Pujol were dragged like carrion 'extra villam', outside the city. Another unusual term is municipium in ch. XXXI where we find the castrum ofPuylaurens besieged 'a parte municipii', perhaps meaning the more urbanised part of the settlement (Duvernoy translates as ville) . See also n. 1 19 to ch. XXXIII for the specialised term bonas villas. Apart from the general use of civitas to refer to larger places, we have commented in n. 57 to ch. V and n. 72 to ch. XLI on the specialised use of civitas to refer to the Cite of Toulouse and the Cite of Carcassonne, in distinction to the Bourg in each place. From time to time however civitas seems to be used in relation to Toulouse to mean the whole city rather than the Cite.33 Words of uncertain meaning Duvernoy (Introduction p. 20) identifies three words for which Du Cange in his Glossarium gives no satisfactory meaning for the context in which they occur in the Chronicle. These are aravannis in ch. XX, barrigio in ch. XXXIII and turcatur in ch. XXXV. We have had no greater success in finding a meaning which can be 32 The combination of villae and opida may have been a commonplace. We have noted for example in an act of the consuls of Toulouse of 28 October 1220, HGL VIII, col. 736, a reference to people who were staying or had stayed 'in alienis partibus & etiam in villis & opidis foris Tolosam'. 33 Cf. the points in P. Wolff, ' Civitas et Burgus, !'example de Toulouse', in Wolff, Regards sur le Midi medieval (Toulouse, 1978).

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XXXlll

verified independently of the Chronicle, and in translating we have therefore in each case sought a meaning which makes sense in the context and have followed Duvernay's suggestions in doing this (see relevant notes to the chapters cited) . We have also found no satisfactory dictionary definition for the use of the noun fundus with revolutum in ch. VI, and the phrase dorsa paleosa in ch. XLI. Avenam (with revenientium) in ch. I is also used unusually. Notes on our treatment of these terms are included in each of the relevant chapters.

Dates William often uses Saints' Feast days to date events within a year, but he also uses the Roman calendar, favoured by the Curia (see for example ch. XLVI, on Raymond VII's death, and ch. XLVII, the victory of Charles of Anjou). In the former case we have usually given the modern equivalent in a footnote; in the latter we have modernised. Styles of dating the beginning of the year in Languedoc in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries varied both between different places and over time. 34 There were basically four styles: le style de la nativite ( 25 December); le style de l'annonciation (25 March, Lady Day); le style du l er Avril ( 1 April); and le style du Pacques (Easter Day) . It is very clear that William was not using 25 December as the beginning of the year, and that he dates its start to the spring. While it is not always possible to tell from the context in the Chronicle which of the three possible spring dates William is using, the reference in ch. XXXVIII to the Treaty of Paris makes it clear that he is using the style du Pacques there. The Treaty of Paris was signed on 1 2 April 1 229, Holy Thursday, and Easter Day that year fell on 1 5 April: since William says that that the signing was at the end of a year, he was clearly using Easter Day as the start of the next year, and we can almost certainly assume that he was doing so throughout the Chronicle. 35 This point is also discussed in HGL VII, Note XXV, iii, pp. 72-3; and see also the comment in Roquebert IV, p. 1 60 on dating.

The historical background - bibliographical note There is an increasing amount of good work available in English on the subjects covered by William of Puylaurens' Chronicle, especially on the Albigensian Crusade and the Cathars and Waldensians. This is in addition to the extensive material which appears in French and other languages. The bibliography at the 34 They have been discussed in a series of articles in Annales du Midi which mainly appeared in the first half of the twentieth century. These include: F. Galabert, 'Le style du 1er Avril a Toulouse', AM XXIII ( 1913), pp. 45-56; C. Higounet, 'Le style du 1er Avril a Toulouse au XII et au XIII siecles', AM XLIX ( 1 937), pp. 153-77; D. Garrigues, 'Les styles du commencement de l'annee dans le Midi: l'emploi de l'annee Pisane en pays Toulousain et Languedoc', AM LIII ( 1941), pp. 237-70; Y. Dossat, 'La question du style du 1er Avril dans le Quercy', AM LIV-LV ( 1 942-43), pp. 418-21; and Y. Dossat, 'Du debut de l'annee en Languedoc au Moyen Age', AM LIV-LV ( 1942-43), pp. 520-29. 35 For an example of the use of Easter as the start of the year in another document, see n. 165 to ch. XXXVII.

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Introduction

end of this book lists those items we have cited, and a few others which we have also consulted, and this gives a good indication of the wide range of material now available. There is an excellent bibliographical essay on the Cathars and the Crusade in Malcolm Barber, The Cathars (Harlow, 2000) , pp. 226-38, which accompanies an extensive bibliography; while for works up to about 1970, the bibliography in W. L. Wakefield's Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France 1 1 00-1250 (London, 1974), pp. 259-76, is very thorough. There is also a detailed bibliography, covering primary and secondary material, on heresy, crusade and inquisition, in The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. V, c. 1 1 98-c. 1300, ed. D. Abulafia (Cambridge 1 999), pp. 860-66, associated with the chapter in the same volume, pp. 1 64-8 1 , by Bernard Hamilton, 'The Albigensian Crusade and Heresy'. As to sources, there is a large collection of material on heresy in translation in W. L. Wakefield and A. P. Evans, eds., Heresies ofthe High Middle Ages (New York, 1969, repr. 199 1 ) , with introductions to each piece, extensive notes, and a good bibliography covering in particular sources in print up to c. 1967. A shorter but very helpful collection on early heresy in the west is R. I. Moore, The Birth of Popular Heresy (London, 1975 ) . On the Crusade itself, the other two main contemporary narrative sources are now available in English as The History of the Albigensian Crusade: Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay's Historia Albigensis, trans. W. A. and M. D. Sibly (Woodbridge, 1998); and The Song of the Cathar Wars: A History of the Albigensian Crusade, trans. Janet Shirley (Aldershot, 1 996) (translation of the Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise) . The Chronicle of William Pelhisson has been recently edited and retranslated into French by Jean Duvernoy ( Guillaume Pelhisson: Chronique (Paris, 1 994) ) ; and an English translation of this and some other material relating to the activities of the early inquisitors is in W. L. Wakefield's Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition, pp. 207-36. Another very important class of contemporary sources are letters, especially papal and royal letters, and those of other leading protagonists, such as the legates. Papal documents are reproduced in Latin either in full or in summary form in various collections, most notably J. P. Migne' s Patrologiae cursus completus. . . Series Latina, vols. 2 1 4-17 (for Innocent III); L. Auvray, ed., Les Registres de Gregoire IX (1227-1241) (4 vols., Paris, 1 890-1955); E. Berger, ed., Les registres d'Innocent IV, 4 vols. (Paris, 1881-1919); and P. Pressutti, ed., Regesta Honorii papae III, 2 vols. (Rome, 1 888-1895). Other important collections are A. Potthast's Regesta pontificorum Romanorum, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1875) (mainly brief calendared summaries) ; the relevant volumes of the Recueil des Historiens des GauZes et de la France, ed. Dom Bouquet et al. (new ed., Paris, 1871 onwards) ; and vols. I and II of the Layettes du tresor des chartes, ed. A. Teulet et al. (Paris, 1 863-1909). Finally, the Histoire generale de languedoc (HGL) contains, usually in full, printed versions of many letters and a wealth of other material (including charters, conciliar decrees and other acta) which are directly relevant to the history of the years covered by the Chronicle. Volumes VI and IX contain narrative accounts of many episodes. The original edition edited by Devic and Vaissete was re-edited by Molinier and others in the later nineteenth century, and this revised edition (cited throughout this book) is perhaps the single most important collection of printed sources.

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XXXV

Translations of a small selection of letters and some other items are in Appendices F and H of HA, and in the Appendices to this translation. Of secondary works in English, an excellent introduction to the topics which form the main subject of William of Puylaurens' narrative is W. L. Wakefield's Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in Southern France 1 1 00-1250. This covers the social, economic and cultural background to the Crusade, as well as other topics. Malcolm Barber's The Cathars, cited above, is also a very good starting point. A concise summary is in B. Hamilton, The Albigensian Crusade (Historical Association, Pamphlet G.85, London, 1974), reprinted in Hamilton, Monastic Reform, Catharism and the Crusades. M. Costen, The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade (Manchester, 1997), offers a clear general survey, especially useful on the society of Languedoc, and with a good bibliography. Other books on the Crusade in English are J. Sumption, The Albigensian Crusade (London, 1978); J. R. Strayer, The Albigensian Crusades (New York, 1971); and Zoe Oldenbourg, Massacre at Montsegur (trans. P. Green, London, 196 1 , repr. 1999), this being an English version of Le Bucher de Montsegur (Paris, 1959) . On heresy, a good starting point in English is Malcolm Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation (Oxford, 2nd ed. 1992) . The same author's The Cathars (Oxford, 1 998) is a thorough survey which gives due weight to Catharism in areas of Europe other than Languedoc. Neither of these has a formal bibliography but the detailed notes provide extensive references. Malcolm Barber's The Cathars is again important. On the Waldensians, a good introduction with a full bibliography is now E. Cameron, Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe (Oxford, 2000) . An important collection of essays is P. Biller and A. Hudson, eds., Heresy and Literacy, 1 000-1530 (Cambridge, 1 994), with material on both the Cathars and Waldensians. On the Inquisition, a good introduction is B. Hamilton, The Medieval Inquisition (London, 1 98 1 ) . Chapters 7-14 of vol. 1 of the nineteenth century American historian H. C. Lea's The History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, 3 vols. (London and New York, 1 888) were reprinted in 1963 as The Inquisition of the Middle Ages: its Organisation and Operation (London, 1963) , edited with an introduction by Walter Ullmann. Although on the face of it this work would now seem to be out-of-date, the fact that these chapters still remain useful is all the more remarkable when one appreciates the circumstances in which Lea worked, described by Ullmann in his introduction, which sets Lea's work in a modern context. An important recent article is R. Kieckhefer, 'The Office of Inquisition and Medieval Heresy: The Transition from Personal to Institutional Jurisdiction', Journal of Ecclesiastical History 46 ( 1995), pp. 36-6 1 . The work of J. H. Mundy has explored many aspects of the history of Toulouse in the thirteenth century. As well as his early work, Liberty and Political Power in Toulouse, 1 050-1230 (New York, 1954), three more recent studies have drawn further on his immense knowledge: these are The Repression ofHeresy at Toulouse: The Royal Diploma of 1279 (Toronto, P.I.M.S., 1985) ; Men and Women at Toulouse in the Age of the Cathars (Toronto, P.I.M.S., 1990); and Society and Government at Toulouse in the Age of the Cathars (Toronto, P.I.M.S., 1 997) .

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On other matters covered by William's Chronicle, the general background to French history at this time, focusing on the French monarchy, is covered in E. H. Hallam and J. W. Everard, Capetian France, 987-1328, 2nd ed. (Harlow, 200 1 ) . Jim Bradbury's Philip Augustus, King of France 1 1 80-1223 (London and New York, 1 998), includes a discussion of that king's policies towards the Midi, while there is also an English version of Jean Richard's important account of Louis IX' s reign ( Saint Louis: Crusader King of France, ed. and abridged S. Lloyd, trans. J. Birrell (Cambridge and Paris, 1992) ) . Jean Dunbabin's Charles of Anjou: Power, Kingship and State-making in Thirteenth-century Europe (London, 1 998) provides an account in English of his life. General histories of the crusades (e.g. those by Runciman, Riley-Smith, Mayer) all cover Louis IX's crusades, and give further bibliographies. Of the many works in French, Michel Roquebert's study L'epopee cathare, 4 vols. (Toulouse, 1970-89) , and its effective fifth volume Les Cathares: de la chute de Montsegur aux derniers buchers, 1244-1329 (Paris, 1 998) provide a very detailed, accurate and highly readable account of the history of the Cathars and of the Crusade and its aftermath. Roquebert's study is invaluable because of its very thorough and scholarly documentation, and close reference to the sources. Mgr. E. Griffe's four volume study of Catharism in Languedoc and the Crusade is also thorough and very well documented, making good use of the records of the work of inquisitors preserved in the Doat collection and Toulouse MS 609. The volumes are Les Debuts de l'Aventure Cathare en Languedoc (1 1 401 1 90) (Paris, 1 969); Le Languedoc Cathare de 1 1 90 a 1210 (Paris, 1 9 7 1 ) ; Le Languedoc Cathare au Temps de la Croisade (Paris, 1973 ) ; and Le Languedoc Cathare et l'Inquisition (Paris, 1 980) . Jean Duvernoy has similarly made extensive use of inquisitors' records, and has published widely on many aspects of Catharism and the history of Languedoc in the years covered by William of Puylaurens: his two volume study of Catharism is very helpful (Le Catharisme: La Religion des Cathares (Toulouse, 1 976), and Le Catharisme: L'Histoire des Cathares (Toulouse, 1 979) ) . Yves Dossat has published numerous articles, and many are brought together in Y. Dossat, Eglise et heresie en France au XIIIe siecle (London, 1982 ) . His earlier book, Les Crises de l'inquisition toulousain (Bordeaux, 1959) is essential for the study of the work of the inquisitors at Toulouse in the 1230s. The Cahiers de Fanjeaux, collections of papers on a common theme, have been produced annually since 1966, under the auspices of the Centre d' etudes historiques at Fanjeaux. They contain a wealth of useful material. French journals which regularly contain articles of relevance to Languedoc and to heresy are Annales du Midi, Cahiers d'Etudes Cathares, and Heresis. /

/

THE CHRONICLE OF WILLIAM OF PUYLAURENS

SUMMARY

Prologue The purpose of the Chronicle is to record the struggle to defend the Catholic Church and eliminate heresy in the South, which lasted almost seventy years. Description of the types of heresy in the area, its strength, and the weaknesses of the Church when this struggle began, and also the laxity of those in authority (both lay and ecclesiastical) in dealing with heresy. Ch. I 1 145: Visit of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to Verfeil, which was infested with heresy, and his curse pronounced on the town. Ch. II 1 1 78: Siege and submission of Lavaur, a notable centre of heresy. Ch. III How William Peyre, a relative of the Bishop of Albi, refused on his death bed to accept Christian burial and insisted on being taken to the Cathars. Ch. IV A public debate between the Bishop of Albi and a heresiarch, Sicard the Cellerer. Ch. V Genealogy of the Counts of Toulouse. Support given by Joan, wife of Count Raymond VI, to her husband at the siege of les Casses; her death in 1 1 99. Ch. VI 1 1 79-1205: Poverty of Fulcrand, Bishop of Toulouse, and his successor Raymond of Rabastens; failure of the Count of Toulouse to support them. Bishop Raymond wastes his resources in a struggle with a vassal and is deposed from his office. Ch. VII 1203-06: Peter of Castelnau and Brother Ralph, Cistercians, appointed legates in 1203. Fulk, also a Cistercian, appointed Bishop of Toulouse to revive the ailing see in 1205. Ch. VIII 1206-07: Diego, Bishop of Osma, and (St.) Dominic sent to preach against the heretics. Debate with Cathars at Verfeil and Waldensians at Pamiers. Ch. IX 1207-08: Major public debate at Montreal. Assassination of Peter of Castelnau, January 1208. Ch. X 1 208: Appeal to the Pope. Order of Preachers established. Arnold Amalric, Abbot of Citeaux, appointed legate. Albigensian Crusade launched. Ch. XI On the marital history of Maria (Marie) of Montpellier. Ch. XII 1 207-08: 'Count' Baldwin, comes from France to join his brother Count Raymond VI of Toulouse but meets a cool reception. Ch. XIII 1209: Raymond VI, after approaching the King of France and the Emperor Otto, makes peace with the crusaders. Siege and massacre of Beziers, July 1209. Ch. XIV 1 209-10: Capitulation of Carcassonne (August 1209); Viscount Raymond-Roger taken as hostage and later dies in captivity. Simon de Montfort given charge of the conquered territory. Initial military successes of the crusaders. Ch. XV 12 10: The Grand 'White' Confraternity against heretics and usurers established (primarily) in the Cite at Toulouse. The Bourg responds by establishing the 'Black' Confraternity. Ch. XVI 1 2 1 0-1 1 : Agreement between King Peter of Aragon and Simon de Montfort, as a result of which the King's son James is handed to de Montfort.

4

Summary of the Chronicle

Siege of Lavaur; the 'White' Confraternity of Toulouse joins in, despite Raymond VI's opposition. Lavaur taken; massacre of captured knights. Ch. XVII 1 2 1 0-1 1 : Capture of les Casses, where sixty heretics are burnt. 'Count' Baldwin, brother of Raymond VI of Toulouse, defects to the crusaders. The Toulousains unite and are excommunicated. Marriage of the younger Raymond to the sister of King Peter of Aragon. Raymond VI makes a pretence of handing Toulouse to the King. Toulouse besieged. Ch. XVIII Early autumn 1 2 1 1 : Siege and battle of Castelnaudary. Ch. XIX 12 12-13: King Peter visits Toulouse. Christian victory in Spain over the Saracens at Las Navas de Tolosa. The crusaders fortify le Pujol, which is captured by the Toulousains; the garrison massacred. Ch. XX 1 2 1 3 : King Peter and the southern forces lay siege to Muret. Story of the King's letter to the wife of a Toulousain noble. Preparations for battle. Ch. XXI 1 2 1 3: Further preparations for the battle. Raymond VI urges caution, but King Peter joins battle and is killed. The Toulousain infantry taken by surprise and massacred. Ch. XXII 1 2 14: Baldwin, brother of Raymond VI, captured and hanged on his brother's orders. Victories of King Philip Augustus at Bouvines and his son Louis at la Roche-au-Moine. Ch. XXIII 12 14: Peter of Benevento sent as legate to negotiate peace. Hostages taken by de Montfort and the Chateau Narbonnais in Toulouse and Castle of Foix handed to the Church. Exchange between Bishop Fulk and Raymond de Ricaud. Ch. XXIV 1 2 1 5 : Fourth Lateran Council. The County of Toulouse given to Simon de Montfort, who demolishes the fortifications of Toulouse. His son Guy marries Petronilla of Bigorre. Ch. XXV 1 2 1 5-16: Raymond VI retires to Spain. In spring 1 2 1 6 his son is welcomed by the citizens of Avignon and the Venaissin. William attributes the subsequent reversals for the crusaders to a Divine Judgment on their greed and ambition. Ch. XXVI 12 16: the crusader garrison in the castle of Beaucaire is besieged by the younger Raymond, and surrenders after de Montfort fails to raise the siege. De Montfort decides to take punitive action against the Toulousains. Ch. XXVII 12 16: De Montfort attacks Toulouse and sets fire to part of the city. Bishop Fulk attempts to mediate, De Montfort, 'blinded by money', imposes an oppressive levy. The Toulousains secretly contact Raymond VI. Ch. XXVIII 1 2 1 7-18: Raymond VI returns to Toulouse and rebuilds the fortifications; the city is besieged. Bishop Fulk and Jacques de Vitry sent to France to preach the Crusade. Death of Simon de Montfort, June 1 2 1 8. Ch. XXIX 1 2 1 8-20: Amaury de Montfort abandons the Chateau Narbon­ nais. Castelnaudary secedes to Raymond VI and is besieged by Amaury. Death of Guy de Montfort, brother of Amaury. Foucaud and Jean de Berzy defeated at Baziege. Amaury abandons the siege of Castelnaudary. Ch. XXX 12 19: Prince Louis takes the cross, and besieges Marmande which surrenders. He lays siege to Toulouse which resists successfully. Louis leaves after completing his forty days service. Ch. XXXI 1220-2 1 : Crimes and deaths of Foucaud and Jean de Berzy. The

Summary of the Chronicle

5

southern forces retake Lavaur, Puylaurens ( 1220) Montreal ( 1 2 2 1 ) , and many other places. Birth of Joan, daughter of the future Raymond VII. Ch. XXXI I 122 1-25: Death of Count Raymond VI (August 1222 ) ; he is refused Catholic burial and remains unburied to this day. Death of Raymond­ Roger Count of Foix (March 1223) . Cardinal Conrad appointed legate ( 1 220). Failed attempt to secure peace. The southerners gradually recover lost territories and Amaury de Montfort renounces his claims in favour of Louis VIII, who had succeeded Philip Augustus in 1223. Romanus replaces Conrad as legate. Death of Bernard IV Count of Comminges. Ch. XXXIII 1 226: Louis VIII leads a large army of crusaders south and besieges Avignon, which surrenders after three months. Many crusaders return north after heavy losses through sickness. Ch. XXXIV 1226: On his way back King Louis VIII issues edicts at Pamiers. He later dies at Montpensier. Ch. XXXV 1227-28: Auterive surrenders to Raymond VII. Labecede captured by the French and its population massacred. Successes of Raymond VII, including recovery of Castelsarrasin and Montech. Incidents at Lavilledieu. Ch. XXXVI 1228: Destruction of the crops and forts in the area of Toulouse. Ch. XXXVII 1228-29: After the devastation of Toulouse most of the army returns to Gascony; those remaining attack the territory of Foix. The Abbot of Grandselve conducts negotiations for peace. Terms provisionally agreed at Meaux (January 1229) and confirmed in the Treaty of Paris (April 1229) . The French crown successfully resists seditious moves by leading barons. Ch. XXXVIII 1229: Agreement between the Counts of Toulouse and Foix regarding disputed territory. Destruction of southern strongholds. Formal recon­ ciliation of Toulouse by the vice-legate Peter of Colmieu. Council of Toulouse (November 1229) . Episcopal inquisition initiated. Liberality of Bishop Fulk. Ch. XXXIX 1230-3 1 : Gautier de Marnis, Bishop of Tournai, appointed legate; he meets Raymond VII to discuss alleged contraventions of the Treaty of Paris. Death of Bishop Fulk, Christmas 1 23 1 . Ch. XL 123 1-32: Raymond de Falgar, Prior of the Order of Preachers, elected to succeed Fulk. Raymond VII is required to strengthen the implementa­ tion of the Treaty of Paris. Council of Beziers (March 1232) . Raymond takes possession of Marseille. Ch. XLI 1233-40: Procedures for the papal or Dominican Inquisition, which is resisted by the Toulousains. The Archbishop of Vienne appointed legate, 1233. He is later succeeded by the Cardinal Bishop of Palestrina. Opposition to the Order of Preachers as they carry out the Inquisition. Solar eclipse. Raymond VII invades the Camargue. Raymond II Trencavel rebels in mid- 1240 and besieges Carcassonne, but is repelled by a force sent from France. Peace arranged by the intervention of the Counts of Toulouse and Foix. Ch. XLII 124 1 : Raymond VII and the Bishop of Toulouse postpone their journey to attend a papal conference summoned to discuss action against the Emperor Frederick II. Prelates making the journey ambushed at sea (May 124 1 ) . Plan for Raymond to marry Sancie the third daughter of the Count of Provence discussed with King James of Aragon. Death of Count Roger-Bernard of Foix; accord between his successor Roger IV and Raymond VII.

6

Summary of the Chronicle

Ch. XLIII 124 1-42: Raymond VII's plan to marry Sancie of Provence fails; instead he marries the daughter of the Count of March (conditionally on papal approval) . Coalition involving Raymond VII, Henry III of England and others against the King of France. Massacre of inquisitors at Avignonet. The Count of Foix defects from Raymond. Peace of Lorris between Raymond VII and Louis IX. Ch. XLIV 1 243-44: Raymond VII visits the Curia and the Emperor Frederick II. Siege and surrender of Montsegur; around two hundred heretics burnt. Ch. XLV 1244-47: Raymond VII holds court at Toulouse, Christmas 1244. Council of Lyon, 1245. Plans for Raymond to marry Beatrice, fourth daughter of the Count of Provence, fail following her father's death; she is married to Charles of Anjou instead. Raymond takes the cross and prepares to go on crusade ( 1 247) . His efforts to arrange Christian burial for his father's body fail. Ch. XLVI 1248-49: After wintering in Cyprus King Louis and the crusaders take Damietta. Raymond VII visits Spain and is taken ill. The Viscount of Lomagne defects from Raymond. Raymond has eighty heretics burnt at Agen. He dies not long afterwards, and his body is transported through the county on its way to be buried at Fontevrault. Grief of the inhabitants of the area. Ch. XLVII 1250-1269: Failure of the crusade in Egypt. Conflict between the successors of the Emperor Frederick II and Charles Duke of Anjou, representing the Church interest; Charles (crowned King of Sicily in 1265) is victorious. Ch. XLVIII 1 264-1 269: Conflict between King Henry III of England and his barons led by Simon de Montfort. The King captured but escapes; Simon killed. King Louis takes the cross for a new crusade, as does King James of Aragon, but James does not go overseas. Ch. XLIX 1270-7 1 : The crusaders attack Tunis and occupy Carthage. Death of King Louis. Treaty between the crusaders and the King of Tunis. The army returns to Sicily, and many ships are wrecked. Deaths of Count Alphonse and Countess Joan of Poitiers and Toulouse, after which Toulouse becomes part of the French kingdom. Death of Bishop Raymond of Toulouse and of Pope Clement IV. Ch. L 1272-75: Arnold-Bernard of Armagnac killed by Gerald, lord of Sompuy. The latter places Sompuy under the tutelage of King Philip of France, but despite this Count Gerald of Armagnac and Count Roger-Bernard III of Foix attack and capture Sompuy. The King invades the territory of Foix, but after the intervention of King James of Aragon and Gaston de Bearn Roger-Bernard surrenders and is imprisoned, but is later freed and recovers his lands.

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Prologue

7

[Before the Crusade - Prologue and chs. I-XII]

Here begins the Chronicle composed by Master William of Puylaurens. Here begins the prologue to the History of the business 1 commonly called by the French (Albigensian'. The events related took place in the Province of Narbonne and the dioceses of Albi, Rodez, Cahors and Agen, and concerned the protection of the Catholic faith and the extermination of heresy.2

[Introduction: The purpose of the Chronicle is to record the struggle to defend the Catholic Church and eliminate heresy in the South, which lasted almost seventy years. Description of the types of heresy in the area, its strength, and the weaknesses of the Church when this struggle began, and also the laxity of those in authority (both lay and ecclesiastical) in dealing with heresy.] Amongst the events recorded in history in the last hundred years in Europe, within the bounds of our seas, 3 there is one which is especially worth recalling: the action taken to defend the Catholic faith and extirpate heresy in the Province of Narbonne4 and the dioceses of Albi, Rodez, Cahors and Agen and certain territories of the Count of Toulouse beyond the Rhone. This struggle is regarded as having taken almost seventy years to bring to an end. I have thought it well to record in writing, for the benefit of posterity, what I myself witnessed, or heard from close sources, in the hope that by this means men of higher, middle and lower rank may gain an understanding of the judgments of God, by which He determined to punish these unhappy lands for the sins of their people. I say, for the sins of the people, but I do not exclude the negligence of the prelates and princes, who will, I hope, be encouraged by this comment to ensure that in future the Enemy will not sow tares amongst the good seed5 - seed sown in a field that has been cultivated with such labour, at such great cost, and with such an effusion of human blood. Whilst those who should have stayed awake were asleep, the old Enemy brought into these wretched lands the sons of perdition, having a form of 1 'Negocii', a variant spelling of negotium. The Albigensian Crusade was usually referred to by contemporary Church writers as negotium pacis et fidei, 'the business of peace and the faith', or a similar phrase - for a more detailed comment see HA, p. 6 n. 9. French writers often use L'affaire Albigeoise. For the association of Albi and the Albigeois with the heretics and the Crusade and other geographical terms associated with the Crusade see Introduction pp. xxviii-xxx. 2 'Pravitate heretica', literally 'heretical wickedness', a phrase used very frequently by William and his contemporaries, rendered throughout this translation simply as 'heresy'. 3 I.e. as opposed to events in the East and the Holy Land. 4 I.e. the ecclesiastical province. In the early thirteenth century the Archdiocese included the bishoprics of Carcassonne, Toulouse, Elne, Beziers, Agde, Lodeve, Maguelonne, Nimes and Uzes. See for example M.-H. Vicaire, Saint Dominic and his Times, trans. K. Pond (London, 1964), ch. V ('The Narbonensis'), and esp. pp. 61-4; and E. Griffe, 'Geographie ecclesiastique de la province de Narbonne au moyen age', AM XLIX ( 1936), pp. 363-82. For a description of the ecclesiastical and civil geography of the region see HGL XII, pp. 135-74, Note XVIII, 'Sur la geographie de la province de Languedoc au Moyen Age'. For geographical terms associated with the Crusade in general, see also Introduction p. xxviii above. 5 Cf. Matthew 13, vv. 24-5.

8

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Prologue

godliness but denying the power thereof/ whose word, creeping like a canker/ infected and seduced a multitude of men. Thus, with no one to provide a defence for the faith against the aggressors, the heretics waxed worse and worse,8 to the extent that they had their homes in the towns and fortified places,9 established farms and vineyards, and procured large houses in which they openly preached heresies to their believers. There were Arians, Manicheans, and Waldensians or Men of Lyon.10 These disagreed amongst themselves but all conspired against the Catholic faith, to the ruin of souls. The Waldensians11 used to engage in vigorous disputation with the other sects, and in consequence ignorant priests sometimes welcomed them because of their hostility to the other heretics. As a result, the land, rejected and nigh unto cursing, brought forth little but thorns and briars, 12 robbers and mercenaries, thieves, murderers, adulterers and manifest usurers. Parish priests13 were held in such contempt by the laity that their name was used by very many people in oaths, as if they were Jews, and just as one might say: 'I would rather be a Jew', they used to say: 'I would rather be a parish priest than do this or that.' 6 A direct quotation from II Timothy 3, v. 5. The translation given is from the King James Bible; the New English Bible gives 'men who preserve the outward form of religion but are a standing denial of its reality'. 7 Cf. II Timothy 2, v. 17. 8 II Timothy 3, v. 13. 9 Latin 'per villas et opida' - see comment in Introduction p. xxxii. 10 By Manicheans here William means dualist heretics, that is the Cathars (on whom see the general works, e.g. by Barber and Lambert, cited in the Bibliography). The Waldensians, for whom see next note, were a wholly distinct sect. A question however arises from William listing 'Arians' ('Arriani') here separately (and cf. 'Bernard the Arian' in ch. II, and the ref. in ch. VII), since this could imply that William had in mind the existence of a third heretical group ( cf. also the reference to Arians in PVC §394, HA, p. 183, and n. 5 1 ) . Arians were in origin followers of the teachings of Arius, who denied the divinity of Christ and was excommunicated at the Council of Nicea in AD 325. His teachings were often adopted by the early Germanic invaders of the western Roman Empire. By the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the term could be used in a loose way to refer to heretics in general, just as the term Manichean could be used to describe heretics who were not dualists. There are references to Arians in the Midi at the time of St Bernard of Clairvaux' s mission of 1 145 (on which see n. 20 below), but scholars disagree as to whether or not these were in fact Cathars: Griffe, Debuts, pp. 33-7, argues that they were, but M. Lambert, The Cathars (Oxford, 1998), p. 4 1 n. 66, is doubtful (and see also the additional works cited by him in that note). In this case, it is more likely that William of Puylaurens is simply using the term Arriani as a loose equivalent to Manichei, rather than to indicate two separate sects. For a general discussion of these terms, and their use to refer to medieval sects see the references in W. L. Wakefield and A. P. Evans, eds., Heresies of the High Middle Ages (New York, 1969, repr. 1 991 ) , esp. p. 2 1 , and further refs. in their index. 11 The Waldensians (or Waldenses, Vaudois in French), also known as the Poor of Lyon, were active in the Midi from 1 173, when their movement was founded by Waldes (or Waldo or Valdes), a merchant of Lyon. Their treatment as heretics did not, initially at least, arise primarily from theological differences with the Church, but from their refusal to submit to Catholic discipline. As William's comment implies, they were always hostile to the Cathars. See also ch. VIII below for their involvement in the debate with the Bishop of Osma and (St) Dominic at Pamiers in 1207. For accounts of the sect and further references see CF vol. 2, Vaudois languedociens et Pauvres Catholiques; C. Thouzellier, Catharisme et Valdeisme en Languedoc a la fin du XIIe et au debut du XIIIe siecle, Politique pontificale - Controverses, 2nd ed. (Louvain and Paris, 1969), esp. pp. 16-18 and 24-38; M. Lambert, Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1992), chs. 5, 6 and 8; E. Cameron, Waldenses: Rejections of Holy Church in Medieval Europe (Oxford, 2000); and G. Audisio, The Waldensian Dissent: Persecution and Survival c.l170-c. l570, trans. C. Davison (Cambridge, 1999). 12 Cf. Hebrews 6, v. 8. 13 'Capellani', in contrast to 'clerici' (i.e. those in holy orders) in the next paragraph. Capellanus most commonly means 'chaplain', but Duvernay here translates as 'cures' and we have followed his interpretation. So also similar usage in ch. VI below.

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Prologue

9

If clergy appeared in public, they hid their modest14 tonsures by drawing the hair forwards from the back of their heads. The knights15 seldom offered their own children as candidates for the priesthood, but presented the sons of their subjects to the churches whose tithes they collected at that time. The bishops then trained as clerks such of these children as were suitable, as circumstances allowed. The knights themselves, scorning authority, attached themselves to some or other of the heretics, to suit their own wishes and without opposition. The heretics were held in such respect that they had cemetaries in which they openly buried those to whom they had administered the consolamentum, 16 and took as legacies their entire beds and their clothes. Indeed they benefitted from such legacies more than the men of the Church. 17 They were not made to perform guard duties or pay taxes. Moreover if a soldier were travelling with them on the road and chanced to be seen by an enemy, he could be sure of being safe. 18 So through these people the Devil gained control of most of the land, without having to use force, and held it as if it were his own house. Shadows had descended, and a night of ignorance had been created, wherein the beasts of the Devil' s forest went forth. 19

1 4 Latin cmodicas'. Modicus can apply either to size (moderate, scanty etc.) or to behaviour (moderate, restrained etc.). Duvernay translates as ctimides tonsures', presumably applying the word to the priests' behaviour and implying as the underlying sense (they hid their tonsures timidly'. We think however that William is probably referring to the size of the tonsure, and may be indicating that in seeking to conceal their calling the priests shaved a lesser part of the head than would be usual as well as drawing the hair forward. 1 5 Latin cmilites', literally (knights', incorporating here and several times later in the Chronicle the meaning (local territorial lords of middling or lesser rank', and possibly also (urban knights'; see Introduction, pp. xxx-xxxi , for a discussion of the term. 1 6 Latin (quos hereticaverant', literally (those whom they had hereticated', meaning those who had received the consolamentum. For a summary of this rite and our evidence for it see e.g. Barber, Cathars, pp. 76-8 1. Mundy (Repression, Introduction, p. 3), notes how the verb hereticare came to mean to later inquisitors the administration, usually to the dying, of the consolamentum, and it seems very likely that William is here using the word in this sense rather than, say, to include reference to heretical believers ( credentes) during their lives. See also n. 48 below on the associated noun hereticatio. 1 7 See A. Roach, (The Cathar Economy', Reading Medieval Studies ( 1 986), pp. 5 1-71, for the support received by the Cathars from deathbed legacies of both money and goods from those to whom they administered the consolamentum (esp. e.g. pp. 53-5). See also Duvernay, p. 25 n. 5, and Barber, Cathars, p. 68. 18 William's comments in this introductory section and elsewhere indicate clearly that in Languedoc Catharism had particular support amongst the middling and lesser nobility, the milites, who dominated the castra of the Midi; see also ch. VI below on the state of the see of Toulouse in the early thirteenth century. Barber, Cathars (pp. 69-70) contrasts this with the position in the Rhineland, northern France and Flanders where dualist beliefs seem to have appealed mainly to the lower classes; this difference he attributes to the interaction of heresy with the very different social structure in Languedoc, and suggests that it was a major reason why Catharism was more successful in the area. 19 Cf. Psalm 104, v. 20.

10

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Chapter I Chapter I

Concerning St Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux, who pronounced a curse on Verfeil because it had renounced the word of God.

[1 145: Visit of Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, to the Midi, and his visit to Verfeil, which was infested with heresy, and his curse pronounced on the town.] Seeing the land so greatly infected by the disease of faithlessness, Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux,20 a man of great piety, distinguished for his way of life and his learning, was at one time inspired by zeal for the faith to visit it. He decided in particular to go to the castrum21 ofVerfeil,22 which at that time was flourishing with a large population of knights and commoners. He thought that if he could possibly extinguish heresy in this place, which had been especially infected, he would find it easier to prevail elsewhere. He started to preach in the church against the most important people of the place, but they left the church and the ordinary people followed them. This holy man went after them, and began to preach the word of God in the street. The nobles however hid everywhere in their houses, but he continued to preach to the common people, who stood round him. The knights then made a tumult and banged on their doors so that the people could not hear his voice, thus binding the word of God.23 So he shook the dust from his feet, as a sign to them that they were dust and would return to dust.24 He then left, and looking back at Verfeil cursed the castrum, saying: 'Verfeil, may God wither you. '25 There are many clear signs that this curse endured. At that time - as ancient accounts testify - there were at Verfeil a hundred houses inhabited by knights, owning their own horses with blazons, and their own weapons, using revenues

20 Bernard of Clairvaux (later canonised) undertook a preaching mission against heresy in the Midi in 1 145. His efforts were directed against the radical preacher Henry the Monk (also known as Henry of Lausanne), who was certainly not a Cathar, but Bernard also encountered other less numerous heretics (referred to as Ariani), who as noted above, n. 10, may have been dualists. For contemporary accounts of this mission see Wakefield and Evans, Heresies of the High Middle Ages, pp. 122-7 (translation of PL 182, 434-6 and 185, 3 1 2-13); and R. I. Moore, The Birth of Popular Heresy (London, 1975), pp. 41-6 (translation of PL 185, 4 1 0-16). For discussions see Griffe, Debuts, pp. 33-7; Roquebert I, pp. 50-6 1; R. I. Moore, The Origins of European Dissent (London, 1977), ch. IV; Barber, Cathars, esp. pp. 21-33; B. M. Kienzle, Cistercians, Heresy and Crusade in Occitania, 1145-1229 (York/Woodbridge, 200 1 ) , ch. 3, esp. pp. 90ff.; and Lambert, Medieval Heresy, pp. 55-6 1 . 21 See the comment on this term in Introduction, p. xxxi. 22 For Verfeil, about 20km east of Toulouse, see Griffe, Debuts, pp. 42-6, and Languedoc cathare, 1190 a 1210, pp. 83-90; Roquebert I, pp. 59-61 ; and Kienzle, Cistercians, Heresy and Crusade, pp. 98-100. See also ch. VIII below. A witness before the later Inquisition testified that about the time when Simon de Montfort occupied Verfeil ( 1 2 14) (few people died at Verfeil without taking the consolamentum' (Griffe, Languedoc cathare, 1190 a 1210, p. 84 n. 16, quoting a document from Toulouse MS 609, testimony of Guilabert del Bosquet, knight of Dremil) . It was the focus of a dispute between Bernard Oth of Niort and Bishop Fulk of Toulouse in about 1230: see ch. XXXVIII below. 23 Cf. II Timothy 2, v. 9. 24 Cf. Psalms 103, v. 14, and 104, v. 29. 25 Word play on the Latin name of Verfeil, Viridefolium, (Green Leaf'. However Duvernay (p. 27 n. 3) suggests that this probably reflects a false derivation, since early references are often to Castrum Veterisfolii, (the castrum of Old Leaf'; cf. also n. 28 below for the two forms of the name.

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Chapter II

11

not to increase the wealth of others, but for their own benefit.26 But from that time onwards poverty, like an armed man,27 began to afflict them every year, and frequent hailstorms, barrenness, civil strife and even war left them with very little rest. I myself, as a child, saw the noble lord Isarn Neblat,28 who had been the principal lord of Verfeil, and at that time was reliably said to be a centenarian, living in great poverty at Toulouse, content to own a single nag.29 The testimony of events makes plain how, and to what extent, the judgment of God punished the many lords of this place who had been found wanting. There was to be no recovery from the curse pronounced by the holy man until the Count ofMontforeo gave the castrum to the venerable father Lord Fulk,31 Bishop of Toulouse. From then on, after the lords had been driven out, Verfeil began to revive, little by little, as later events will show in due course.32

Chapter II On the castrum of Lavaur, which was laid under siege because of the heretics there, long before the final coming of the crusaders.

[1 1 78: Siege and submission of Lavaur, a notable centre of heresy.] I now turn to the castrum of Lavaur,33 near to Verfeil, where through his agents, the heretics, the Devil had prepared his throne34 and built the synagogue of Satan. After the year 1 1 7035 of the Incarnation a certain Cardinal, sent by the 26 The somewhat tortuously phrased Latin is 'equos cum intersignibus et arma habentium ad avenam non alienam revenientium sed ad suam'. Following Niermeyer, we translate 'intersignis' as 'blazon'; an alternative would be 'seals'; 'avenam', literally oats, seems clearly intended to indicate their wealth and resources in general. Duvernay translates the passage as 'possesseurs de leurs chevaux avec leurs enseignes et de leurs armes, puisant dans leur avoine et non celle d' autrui'. 27 Cf. Proverbs 6, v. 1 1 . 28 'Isarnus Nebulatus'. Duvernay (p. 28 n. 1 ) notes some possible meanings of the surname including 'rickety' or 'an abortion'; see also Griffe, Debuts, pp. 198-200 and p. 200 n. 45, for further comment on the name. Isarn is referred to in HGL VIII, p. 268 (as 'Isarnus de Viridifolio', in an act of 1202, recording homage of the Count of Foix to the Count ofToulouse for the castle of Saverdun); and 462 (as 'Isarnus de Veterisfolio', in an act of September 1 199). 29 Latin 'roncinus', French 'roussin', meaning a thickset sturdy horse, or workhorse. There is an obsolete English word from the same root, 'rouncy', usually used to mean a squire's horse rather than a knight's. The meaning here seems pejorative, and nag is the most appropriate rendering into English ( cf. Niermeyer) . The same word occurs in ch. XXIII below. 30 Simon de Montfort, lay leader of the Crusade 1209-18: see below, ch. XIV, and n. 14. 31 For Fulk's election as Bishop see ch. VII, and, for further refs. to him, n. 83 to that chapter. 32 Exactly what William means is unclear; in ch. XXVIII he refers to Verfeil being donated by Simon de Montfort to the Bishop of Toulouse (spring 1218), and in ch. XXXIX he refers to an accommodation reached between the Bishop of Tournai and the lords of Verfeil ( 1 230). 33 Lavaur, about 35km north-east of Toulouse, was an important centre of heresy and was to be the objective of a major siege by the crusaders in 1 2 1 1 (see ch. XVI below). For the position generally at Lavaur in the twelfth century see HA, p. 1 1 1 n. 9. 34 Cf. Psalm 103, v. 19. 35 Given in the Latin text as 'ab anna dominice incarnationis MCLXX'. William uses this or a similar phrase quite frequently in giving year dates; more often simply 'anno domini'. We have throughout simply given the year in Arabic numerals.

12

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Chapter II

Pope, laid Lavaur under siege and compelled the heretics there to surrender to him. 36 Two of the leading heretics were converted to the Catholic faith. The Cardinal placed one of them, Bernard Raymond, in the cathedral church of St Stephen in Toulouse, and the other one in the monastery of Saint-Sernin, as canons.37 I recall that as a child I heard mention of Bernard Raymond (the man who had been in the cathedral church) when he was referred to as 'the Arian'. 38 I do not remember having actually seen him. This was a long time before the army of crusaders came to Beziers39 - I mention the matter only as a preliminary point. Nor did the Lord fail to act against the evil of this place, a little before the arrival of the crusaders. Bonfilius, one of the lords of the castrum, wished to appropriate the whole place to himself. He summoned his two nephews, his brother's sons, feigning illness and promising to give them the first gathering of his figs. He then treacherously murdered them in his bedchamber. However his plot was thwarted, for on the same day he met with retaliation and suffered death by the sword.40 Even so, for the reasons I gave earlier, the fever of heresy did not abate, rather it spread more widely, to many other places, as will become clear from what follows, and the scourge of divine vengeance followed in its track. To pursue my purpose in an orderly fashion, I propose to begin my account of the events of our time by referring to the Counts of Toulouse, the memory of whom remains with us. 41 They were the most powerful lords in this land, as will appear from my record, which I hope will be complete or nearly so. It was through their neglect or fault that evil gained so strong a hold, since they failed to cut short an ill which came to birth gradually and in obscurity before their time, but was later to raise its head in prominence.42 36 Despite the vague date of 1 170 ('ab anno . . . MCLXX') given by William it is clear that he is referring to an episode which occurred during the mission to combat heresy in the South headed by Peter of Pavia, Cardinal-priest of St Chrysogonus, and initiated in 1 1 78. The mission also included the prosecution for heresy of Peter Maurand, one of the leading citizens of Toulouse. Peter of Pavia was accompanied by, amongst others, Henry de Marcy, Abbot of Clairvaux, who continued with action against heresy until 1 181-82; this included the siege and submission of Lavaur, dated to 1 1 8 1 (almost certainly July). At this time Lavaur was probably subject to the overlordship of the Trencavel viscounts of Beziers, and Adelaide, wife of Roger II Trencavel, was instrumental in arranging for the gates of the castrum to be opened to Henry's force. For Peter of Pavia's account see PL 199, 1 1 19-24, and for Henry de Marcy's see PL 204, 234-42; both are translated by Moore, The Birth of Popular Heresy, pp. 1 1 3-22. Another very similar version of Peter of Pavia's mission (from Roger of Howden) is translated in Wakefield and Evans, Heresies of the High Middle Ages, pp. 194-200. See also Griffe, Debuts, pp. 90-1 1 1 and 124-136; Thouzellier, Catharisme et Valdeisme, pp. 2 1-3 and 38-40; Wakefield, pp. 83-6; and HGL VI, pp. 78-85, and VII, pp. 1 1-14. 37 On Bernard Raymond, see Griffe, Debuts, pp. 131-32 and n. 32. The 'other one' was Raymond of Baimiac. Both had been present at the Cathar Council of Saint-Felix, on which see n. 49 below. 38 Cf. n. 10 above on the term Arian, and also Griffe, Debuts, pp. 34-37. 39 I.e. in July 1209, at the start of the Albigensian Crusade. 40 Latin 'mortis sumpsit in gladio talionem'; 'talio' here is a reference to the lex talionis, or 'law of talion' (related to retaliation), whereby a punishment resembles the offence in kind and degree, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth'. 41 Latin 'quos nostra tenet memoria'. William seems to be including Raymond V in his criticism, as well as Raymond VI, although he would have no personal recollection of the earlier Count. (He was of course closely involved with Raymond VII, but here he is concerned with the period before the Crusade. It is not known whether he ever met Raymond VI.) 42 Although Count Raymond VI was to be the prime target for persistent hostility from the Roman Church for his failure to combat heresy, his father Raymond V ( 1 148-94, and for whom see also ch. V and

The Chronicle of William of Puylaurens: Chapter III

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Chapter III Digression on a dream experienced by the venerable father, the Bishop of Albi at that time.

[How William Peyre, a relative of the Bishop of Albi, refused on his death bed to accept Christian burial and insisted on being taken to the Cathars.] However, before I embark on this topic, I will relate an account which I heard given by the venerable father Lord William, Bishop of Albi, of revered memory.43 This will help the reader to understand the dangerous extent to which the authority of prelates was brought into contempt in those days, when any man was allowed to follow whatever sect he chose with impunity. He said that as he slept one night he had a dream, in which he seemed to be sitting on the bed of William Peyre of Brens, a relative of his, who appeared to be ill. Placed opposite the bed was an oven, alight, and the invalid seemed to be starting to move towards it. Asked by the Bishop where he was trying to go he said: 'I am going into the oven.' The Bishop tried to stop him, but in vain - he crawled from the bed, to go into the oven. As the Bishop was being tormented by this vision there was a sudden knocking at the door of his bedchamber. Messengers, who had travelled through the night,

note) did not escape criticism on similar grounds, since whilst he was Count, Catharism grew strongly in his domains (see e.g. Barber, Cathars, pp. 43-50) . Eventually, he wrote to the Abbot of Citeaux (RHGF XIII (Paris, 1869), text in footnote on p. 140) asking for help to combat heresy, but this was not until 1 1 77, and may well have been linked to his attempts at that time to reassert comital authority in Toulouse (see comments in Mundy, Repression, pp. 1 1-12). On the other hand Raymond was in a difficult position, since to have acted against Catharism would have risked alienating his vassals, and especially the middling and lesser aristocracy of the Midi, amongst whom the heresy had gained such strength. Raymond V was also preoccupied, at least in the first part of his reign, with combating outside interference in his lands; this came in particular from Henry II and then Richard I of England, who held Aquitaine, and from the Kings of Aragon/Counts of Barcelona, who held the County of Provence and had other interests north of the Pyrenees ( cf. n. 29 to ch. XVI below) . For discussion see e.g. Griffe, Debuts, passim and esp. pp. 84-90, Roquebert I, pp. 82-4, and Lambert, The Cathars, pp. 60-2. When Raymond VI succeeded his father in 1 194 he was thus inheriting a very weak position in the face of the growing strength of Catharism. Irresolute at the best of times, he arguably lacked the capacity to combat heresy even had he sought to do so. The Church in Languedoc was in a similarly weak position. For general discussions in English of Languedoc on the eve of the Crusade, see Wakefield, ch. III; M. Costen, The Cathars and theAlbigensian Crusade (Manchester and New York, 1997), ch. 2; J. Sumption, The Albigensian Crusade (London, 1978), chs. I and IV; Barber, Cathars, ch. 2; and Hallam and Everard, pp. 58-80 and 173-8. For Capetian interests, see M.-B. Bruguiere, 'Un mythe historique: "l'imperialisme capetien" dans le Midi aux XIIe et XIIIe siecles', AM LXCIII ( 1 985), pp. 245-67. On the intervention of the English kings, see W. L. Warren, Henry II (London, 1973); W. L. Warren, King John (London, 1961); and J. Gillingham, Richard I (New Haven and London, 1999). For discussion of Aragonese/Catalan interests see C. Higounet, 'Un grand chapitre de l'histoire du XIIe siecle: La rivalite des maisons de Toulouse et de Barcelone pour la preponderance meridionale', in Melanges d'histoire du moyen age dedies a la memoire de Louis Halphen, Preface de C. E. Perrin (Paris, 1 9 5 1 ) pp. 313-22; R. d'Abadal i de Vinyals, 'A propos de la "domination" de la maison comtale de Barcelone sur le Midi fran