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73-542: Castillon-en-Couserans ( French pronunciation: [kastijɔ̃ ɑ̃ kuzʁɑ̃] , literally Castillon in Couserans ; Occitan : Castilhon de Coserans ) is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France . Pierre Soulé (1801 – 1870), U.S. politician and diplomat, was born there. This Ariège geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Couserans Couserans has

146-656: A Celtic Gallic tribe called the Volcae Tectosages , originally from Belgium or southern Germany , who settled in Toulouse , and may also have penetrated Couserans. However, if they entered Couserans, there were certainly not many of them, and the people whom the Romans called Consoranni were probably essentially Aquitanian. The Consoranni were closest to their western neighbors the Convenae (i.e. "the assembled") whose territory

219-505: A département , as history and geography suggested, but Saint-Girons and Saint-Gaudens (the largest town of Comminges) could not agree on which town would be the préfecture (capital). At the initiative of a representative of Pamiers (largest town in the County of Foix ), Couserans was joined with the province of County of Foix to form the Ariège département . It was promised to Couserans that

292-699: A legate to the Cathar district in order to arrest the progress of the Cathars. The few isolated successes of Bernard of Clairvaux could not obscure the poor results of this mission, which clearly showed the power of the sect in the Languedoc at that period. The missions of Cardinal Peter of Saint Chrysogonus to Toulouse and the Toulousain in 1178, and of Henry of Marcy , cardinal-bishop of Albano , in 1180–81, obtained merely momentary successes. Henry's armed expedition, which took

365-528: A martyr and launched the Albigensian Crusade in 1209. The nearly twenty-year campaign succeeded in vastly weakening the movement. The Medieval Inquisition that followed ultimately eradicated Catharism. There is academic controversy about whether Catharism was a real and organized movement or whether the medieval Church imagined or exaggerated it. The lack of any central organisation among Cathars, regional differences in beliefs and practices, as well as

438-436: A land area of 1,162 km² (449 sq. miles). At the 1999 census there were 21,260 inhabitants on the territory of the former province of Couserans, which means a density of only 18 inhabitants per km² (47 inhabitants per sq. mile), one of the lowest densities in western Europe. The only urban area is Saint-Girons (which includes Saint-Lizier), with 9,484 inhabitants in 1999 (44.6% of the whole population of Couserans). Couserans

511-407: A lull in the Albigensian Crusade , the bishopric of Razès was added. Bishops were supported by their two assistants: a filius maior (typically the successor) and a filius minor , who were further assisted by deacons. The Perfecti were the spiritual elite, highly respected by many of the local people, leading a life of austerity and charity. In the apostolic fashion, they ministered to

584-412: A man to break the cycle. This belief was inspired by later French Cathars, who taught that women must be reborn as men in order to achieve salvation . Toward the end of the Cathar movement, Catharism became less equal and started the practice of excluding women Perfects. However, this trend remained limited. For example, later on, Italian Perfects still included women. In 1147, Pope Eugene III sent

657-414: A vile end, which, they say, could not happen if God were in it. Of baptism, they assert that the water is material and corruptible and is therefore the creation of the evil power, and cannot sanctify the spirit, but that the churchmen sell this water out of avarice, just as they sell earth for the burial of the dead, and oil to the sick when they anoint them, and as they sell the confession of sins as made to

730-507: A woman and vice versa . The spirit was of utmost importance to the Cathars and was described as being immaterial and sexless. Because of this belief, the Cathars saw women as equally capable of being spiritual leaders. Women accused of being heretics in early medieval Christianity included those labelled Gnostics , Cathars, and, later, the Beguines , as well as several other groups that were sometimes "tortured and executed". Cathars, like

803-523: Is Hildegard of Bingen , who in 1163 gave a rousing exhortation against the Cathars in Cologne . During this discourse, Hildegard announced God's eternal damnation on all who accepted Cathar beliefs. While women Perfects rarely travelled to preach the faith, they still played a vital role in the spreading of Catharism by establishing group homes for women. Though it was extremely uncommon, there were isolated cases of female Cathars leaving their homes to spread

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876-508: Is a sub-province inside the larger province of Gascony. In the Middle Ages, Couserans was not affected by the Cathar heresy , unlike the rest of southern France, and in the 16th century the bishops of Saint-Lizier successfully fought against Protestantism . Saint-Lizier was the historical capital of Couserans, but it lost its status as seat of a Roman Catholic diocese (bishopric) at the time of

949-516: Is derived primarily from their opponents. Cathar ideology continues to be debated, with commentators regularly accusing opposing perspectives of speculation, distortion and bias. Only a few texts of the Cathars remain, as preserved by their opponents (such as the Rituel Cathare de Lyon ) which give a glimpse into the ideologies of their faith. One large text has survived, The Book of Two Principles ( Liber de duobus principiis ), which elaborates

1022-575: Is known today as Comminges (a name derived from Convenae ). The Consoranni had an oppidum on the hill which is now the town of Saint-Lizier, from which they controlled the area. The Romans seem to have come in contact with the Consoranni around 80 BC, and integrated the area inside the Roman Provincia ( Provincia Romana — the usual name for what was officially called the province of Transalpine Gaul ) which also included Toulouse and Narbonne on

1095-580: The Ancient Greek : καθαροί , romanized :  katharoí , "the pure ones" ) was a Christian quasi- dualist or pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe , particularly in northern Italy and southern France , between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a heretical sect by the Catholic Church , its followers were attacked first by the Albigensian Crusade and later by

1168-537: The Book of Revelation not a prophecy about the future, but an allegorical chronicle of what had transpired in Satan's rebellion. Their reinterpretation of those texts contained numerous elements characteristic of Gnostic literature. Cathars, in general, formed an anti- sacerdotal party in opposition to the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, protesting against what they perceived to be the moral, spiritual and political corruption of

1241-525: The Book of the Two Principles , believed in an absolute dualism, where the two gods were twin entities of the same power and importance. All visible matter, including the human body, was created or crafted by this Rex Mundi ; matter was therefore tainted with sin . Under this view, humans were actually angels seduced by Satan before a war in heaven against the army of Michael , after which they would have been forced to spend an eternity trapped in

1314-664: The Civitas Consorannorum . The capital of the civitas was the old oppidum of the Consoranni , which the Romans named Austria , and which in the Middle Ages was renamed Saint-Lizier. The name Couserans comes from Consoranni . The Consoranni slowly adopted the Latin language, which later evolved into the Gascon language , like in the rest of Gascony. During the Middle Ages, Novempopulana became known as Vasconia (a name meaning "land of

1387-693: The French Revolution , and has now been reduced to a small town, although it preserves some of the best medieval and Romanesque architecture in southern France. Saint-Girons, once a small suburb of Saint-Lizier, is now the largest town in Couserans and is regarded as its capital. In 1789 Couserans sent three representatives to the Estates-General in Versailles . When French départements were created in 1790, Couserans could have joined with Comminges to form

1460-691: The Gospel of John , the Cathars saw Mary Magdalene as perhaps even more important than Saint Peter , the founder of the church. Catharism attracted numerous women with the promise of a leadership role that the Catholic Church did not allow. Catharism let women become a Perfect. These female Perfects were required to adhere to a strict and ascetic lifestyle, but were still able to have their own houses. Although many women found something attractive in Catharism, not all found its teachings convincing. A notable example

1533-542: The Medieval Inquisition , which eradicated the sect by 1350. Many thousands were slaughtered, hanged, or burnt at the stake, sometimes without regard for age or sex. Followers were known as Cathars or Albigensians , after the French city Albi where the movement first took hold, but referred to themselves as Good Christians . They famously believed that there were not one, but two Gods—the good God of Heaven and

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1606-601: The Papal Legate , Pierre de Castelnau , was assassinated in January 1208 in Provence. To the Cathars, reproduction was a moral evil to be avoided, as it continued the chain of reincarnation and suffering in the material world. Such was the situation that a charge of heresy levelled against a suspected Cathar was usually dismissed if the accused could show he was legally married. Despite the implicit anti-Semitism of their views on

1679-608: The Virgin Mary , another angel in human form, or possibly a human born of a woman with no involvement of a man. They firmly rejected the Resurrection of Jesus , seeing it as representing reincarnation, and the Christian symbol of the cross , considering it to be no more than a material instrument of torture and evil. They also saw John the Baptist , identified as being the same entity as

1752-469: The Waldensians or Valdeis , bear a close similarity to the 'creed' or matrix of beliefs and folk-traditions pieced together under the umbrella of the term 'Catharism.' The fact that there was clearly a spiritual and communal movement of some sort can scarcely be denied since legions of people were willing to part with their lives to defend it. Whether they acted in defense of the doctrine or in defense of

1825-529: The arrondissement of Saint-Girons (one of the three arrondissements of Ariège) is what matches best the old province of Couserans. Couserans has suffered tremendously from rural exodus in the 20th century, and is now left with only 21,260 inhabitants, 44.6% of whom live in the urban area of Saint-Girons (which includes Saint-Lizier). 42°59′N 1°09′E  /  42.99°N 1.15°E  / 42.99; 1.15 Cathar Catharism ( / ˈ k æ θ ər ɪ z əm / KATH -ər-iz-əm ; from

1898-447: The consolamentum ritual. From the beginning of his reign, Pope Innocent III attempted to end Catharism by sending missionaries and persuading the local authorities to act against the Cathars. In 1208, Pierre de Castelnau , Innocent's papal legate , was murdered while returning to Rome after excommunicating Count Raymond VI of Toulouse , who, in his view, was too lenient with the Cathars. Pope Innocent III then declared de Castelnau

1971-670: The préfecture would alternate between Foix, Pamiers, and Saint-Girons, but eventually the promise was betrayed and Foix became the only préfecture of Ariège. What's more, Pamiers replaced Saint-Lizier as the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese (bishopric). Despite being united inside a single département , the Gascon Couserans and the Languedocian County of Foix have always ignored each other, and still remain quite distinct. Today, Couserans has no official status, although

2044-778: The trade routes and spread from the First Bulgarian Empire to the Netherlands . The movement was greatly influenced by the Bogomils of the First Bulgarian Empire , and may have originated in the Byzantine Empire , namely through adherents of the Paulician movement in Armenia and eastern Anatolia who were resettled in Thrace ( Philippopolis ). The name of Bulgarians ( Bougres )

2117-458: The " consolamentum ", a form of baptism performed when death is imminent. At that moment, they believed they would return to the good God as " Cathar Perfect ". Catharism was initially taught by ascetic leaders who set few guidelines, leading some Catharist practices and beliefs to vary by region and over time. The first mention of Catharism by chroniclers was in 1143, four years later the Catholic Church denounced Cathar practices, particularly

2190-526: The "Cathari", in his book On Heresies , taken from the epitome provided by Epiphanius of Salamis in his Panarion . He says of them: "They absolutely reject those who marry a second time, and reject the possibility of penance [that is, forgiveness of sins after baptism]". These are probably the same Cathari (actually Novations) who are mentioned in Canon 8 of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in

2263-497: The Basques"), which evolved into Gascony. Gascony was split between several rival counties, one of which was the county of Comminges ( Pagus Convenicus ) which included Couserans. In 1180, the viscounty of Couserans was created and given to Roger of Comminges , brother of Count Bernard IV of Comminges , thus separating Couserans from Comminges, and reverting to the Roman situation when there

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2336-600: The Cathar Church of the Languedoc had a relatively flat structure , distinguishing between the baptised Perfecti (a term they did not use; instead, bonhommes ) and ordinary unbaptised believers ( credentes ). By about 1140, liturgy and a system of doctrine had been established. They created a number of bishoprics , first at Albi around 1165 and after the 1167 Council at Saint-Félix-Lauragais sites at Toulouse , Carcassonne , and Agen , so that four bishoprics were in existence by 1200. In about 1225, during

2409-568: The Cathar regions. They had to contend not only with the Cathars, the nobles who protected them, and the people who respected them, but also with many of the bishops of the region, who resented the considerable authority the Pope had conferred upon his legates. In 1204, Innocent III suspended a number of bishops in Occitania . In 1205, he appointed a new and vigorous bishop of Toulouse , the former troubadour Foulques . In 1206, Diego of Osma and his canon,

2482-684: The Cathars ). The full title of this treatise in English is, " The errors of the Gazarri, or of those who travel riding a broom or a stick." However the presence of a variety of beliefs and spiritual practices in the French countryside of the 12th and 13th centuries that came to be seen as heterodox relative to the Church in Rome is not actually in question, as the primary documents of the period exhaustively demonstrate. Several of these groups under other names, e.g.

2555-410: The Cathars exist] make 2+2=3 by denying the existence of the persecuted group. The missing element is a dissident religious doctrine, for which historians using a fuller range of sources believe thousands of people were prepared to suffer extreme persecution and an agonising death." The origins of the Cathars' beliefs are unclear, but most theories agree they came from the Byzantine Empire , mostly by

2628-572: The Cathars was the Council , held in 1167 at Saint-Félix-Lauragais , attended by many local figures and also by the Bogomil papa Nicetas , the Cathar bishop of (northern) France and a leader of the Cathars of Lombardy . The Cathars were a largely local, Western European/Latin Christian phenomenon, springing up in the Rhineland cities, particularly Cologne, in the mid- 12th century , northern France around

2701-470: The Church, especially the sacrament of the eucharist, saying that it cannot contain the body of Christ, for had this been as great as the largest mountain Christians would have entirely consumed it before this. They assert that the host comes from straw, that it passes through the tails of horses, to wit, when the flour is cleaned by a sieve (of horse hair); that, moreover, it passes through the body and comes to

2774-580: The Church. In contrast, the Cathars had but one central rite, the Consolamentum , or Consolation. This involved a brief spiritual ceremony to remove all sin from the believer and to induct him into the next higher level as a Perfect . Many believers would receive the Consolamentum as death drew near, performing the ritual of liberation at a moment when the heavy obligations of purity required of Perfecti would be temporally short. Some of those who received

2847-521: The East, which might or might not be combined with the mentioned Docetism. Bernard of Clairvaux 's biographer and other sources accuse some Cathars of Arianism , and some scholars see Cathar Christology as having traces of earlier Arian roots. Some communities might have believed in the existence of a spirit realm created by the good God, the "Land of the Living", whose history and geography would have served as

2920-514: The Gnostics who preceded them, assigned more importance to the role of Mary Magdalene in the spread of early Christianity than the church previously did. Her vital role as a teacher contributed to the Cathar belief that women could serve as spiritual leaders. Women were included in the Perfecti in significant numbers, with numerous receiving the consolamentum after being widowed. Having reverence for

2993-474: The Invisible Father had two spiritual wives, Collam and Hoolibam (identified with Oholah and Oholibah ), and would himself have provoked the war in heaven by seducing the wife of Satan, or perhaps the reverse. Cathars adhering to this story would believe that having families and sons would not impede them from reaching God's kingdom. Some communities also believed in a Day of Judgment that would come when

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3066-557: The Mediterranean Coast. After their conquest of Aquitania in around 50 BC, the Romans integrated Couserans inside the new province of Aquitania. Later when Aquitania was split, Couserans became part of the province of Novempopulana , like the rest of Gascony. Novempopulana corresponded roughly to the old territory of the Aquitanians, south of the river Garonne . Couserans was made one of the nine civitas of Novempopulana, known as

3139-571: The New Testament, included the Bogomil text The Gospel of the Secret Supper (also called John's Interrogation ), a modified version of Ascension of Isaiah , and the Cathar original work The Book of the Two Principles (possibly penned by Italian Cathar John Lugio of Bergamo). They regarded the Old Testament as written by Satan, except for a few books which they accepted, and considered

3212-559: The Old Testament God, the Cathars had little hostility to Jews as people and Jews probably had a higher status in Cathar territories than they had anywhere else in Europe at the time. Cathars appointed Jews as bailiffs and to other roles as public officials, which further increased the Catholic Church's anger at the Cathars. Despite their condemnation of reproduction, the Cathars grew in numbers in southeastern France. By 1207, shortly before

3285-463: The basis for the evil god's corrupt creation. Under this view, the history of Jesus would have happened roughly as told, only in the spirit realm. The physical Jesus from the material world would have been evil, a false messiah and a lustful lover of the material Mary Magdalene . However, the true Jesus would have influenced the physical world in a way similar to the Harrowing of Hell , only by inhabiting

3358-471: The body of Paul . 13th century chronicler Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay recorded those views. Some Cathars told a version of the Enochian narrative, according to which Eve 's daughters copulated with Satan's demons and bore giants . The Deluge would have been provoked by Satan , who disapproved of the demons revealing he was not the real god, or alternatively, an attempt by the Invisible Father to destroy

3431-569: The common terms of self-identification . In the testimony of suspects who were put to the question by the Inquisition , the term 'Cathar' was not used amongst the group of accused heretics themselves. The word 'Cathar' (aka. Gazarri etc.) is coined by Catholic theologians and used exclusively by the inquisition or by authors otherwise identified with the Orthodox church--for example in the anonymous pamphlet of 1430, Errores Gazariorum (Re: Errors of

3504-413: The demiurge was sometimes conflated with Satan or considered Satan's father, creator or seducer, these beliefs were far from unanimous. Some Cathar communities believed in a mitigated dualism similar to their Bogomil predecessors, stating that the evil god Satan had previously been the true God's servant before rebelling against him. Others, likely a majority over time given the influence reflected on

3577-613: The earlier Marcianists , who were found in the same areas as the Paulicians, the Manicheans and the Christian Gnostics of the first few centuries AD, although, as many scholars, most notably Mark Pegg , have pointed out, it would be erroneous to extrapolate direct, historical connections based on theoretical similarities perceived by modern scholars. John Damascene , writing in the 8th century AD, also notes of an earlier sect called

3650-430: The evil God's material realm. The Cathars taught that to regain angelic status one had to renounce the material self completely. Until one was prepared to do so, they would be stuck in a cycle of reincarnation , condemned to suffer endless human lives on the corrupt Earth. Zoé Oldenbourg compared the Cathars to "Western Buddhists" because she considered that their view of the doctrine of "resurrection" taught by Christ

3723-592: The evil god of this age ( 2 Corinthians 4:4 ). According to tradition, Cathars believed that the good God was the God of the New Testament faith and creator of the spiritual realm. Many Cathars identified the evil god as Satan , the master of the physical world. The Cathars believed that human souls were the sexless spirits of angels trapped in the material realm of the evil god. They thought these souls were destined to be reincarnated until they achieved salvation through

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3796-436: The faith. In Cathar communal homes (ostals), women were educated in the faith. These women would go on to bear children who would then become believers. Through this pattern, the faith grew exponentially through the efforts of women, as each generation passed. Despite women having a role in the growth of the faith, Catharism was not completely equal. For example, the belief that one's last incarnation had to be experienced as

3869-438: The future Saint Dominic , began a programme of conversion in Languedoc. As part of this, Catholic–Cathar public debates were held at Verfeil , Servian , Pamiers , Montréal and elsewhere. Dominic met and debated with the Cathars in 1203 during his mission to the Languedoc. He concluded that only preachers who displayed real sanctity, humility and asceticism could win over convinced Cathar believers. The institutional Church as

3942-400: The giants. The Holy Spirit was sometimes counted as one single entity, but to others it was considered the collective groups of unfallen angels who had not followed Satan in his rebellion. Cathars believed that the sexual allure of women impeded a man's ability to reject the material world. Despite this stance on sex and reproduction, some Cathar communities made exceptions. In one version,

4015-437: The human community who held these beliefs, the fact that many gave themselves up willingly to the flames when the option to recant was given to them in many or most cases is significant. As the scholar Claire Taylor puts it, "[This issue] matters at an ethical level, because by being cleverly iconoclastic and populist in suggesting that those using 'Cathar' have made 2+2=5, Pegg and Moore [re: scholars questioning whether or not

4088-403: The killing of all animal life, apart from fish, which they believed were produced by spontaneous generation . The Cathars could be seen as prefiguring Protestantism in that they denied transubstantiation , purgatory , prayers for the dead and prayers to saints . They also believed that the scriptures should be read in the vernacular . The alleged sacred texts of the Cathars, besides

4161-484: The lack of sources from the Cathars themselves, has prompted some scholars to question whether the Church exaggerated its threat, and others to wonder whether it even existed. Though the term Cathar ( / ˈ k æ θ ɑː r / ) has been used for centuries to identify the movement, whether it identified itself with the name is debated. In Cathar texts, the terms Good Men ( Bons Hommes ), Good Women ( Bonnes Femmes ), or Good Christians ( Bons Chrétiens ) are

4234-719: The murder of the Papal Legate Castelnau, many towns in that region, i.e. Provence and its vicinity, were almost completely populated by Cathari, and the Cathari population had many ties to nearby communities. When Bishop Fulk of Toulouse , a key leader of the anti-Cathar persecutions, excoriated the Languedoc Knights for not pursuing the heretics more diligently, he received the reply, "We cannot. We have been reared in their midst. We have relatives among them and we see them living lives of perfection." It has been alleged that

4307-410: The number of the just equalled that of angels who fell, when the believers would ascend to the spirit realm , while the sinners would be thrown to everlasting fire along with Satan. The Cathars ate a pescatarian diet. They did not eat cheese, eggs, meat, or milk because these are all by-products of sexual intercourse. The Cathars believed that animals were carriers of reincarnated souls, and forbade

4380-414: The people and travelled in pairs. Catharism has been seen as giving women the greatest opportunities for independent action, since women were found as being believers as well as Perfecti, who were able to administer the sacrament of the consolamentum . Cathars believed that a person would be repeatedly reincarnated until they committed to self-denial of the material world. A man could be reincarnated as

4453-515: The priests. Killing was abhorrent to the Cathars. Consequently, abstention from all animal food, sometimes exempting fish , was enjoined of the Perfecti. The Perfecti avoided eating anything considered to be a by-product of sexual reproduction. War and capital punishment were condemned—an abnormality in Medieval Europe, despite the fact that the sect had armed combatants prepared to engage in combat and commit murder on its behalf. For example,

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4526-404: The principles of dualistic theology from the point of view of some Albanenses Cathars. It is now generally agreed by most scholars that identifiable historical Catharism did not emerge until at least 1143, when the first confirmed report of a group espousing similar beliefs is reported being active at Cologne by the cleric Eberwin of Steinfeld . A landmark in the "institutional history" of

4599-460: The prophet Elijah , as an evil being sent to hinder Jesus's teaching through the false sacrament of baptism . For the Cathars, the "resurrection" mentioned in the New Testament was only a symbol of re-incarnation. Most Cathars did not accept the normative Trinitarian understanding of Jesus, instead resembling nontrinitarian modalistic Monarchianism ( Sabellianism ) in the West and adoptionism in

4672-458: The sacrament of the consolamentum upon their death-beds may thereafter have shunned further food with an exception of cold water until death. This has been termed the endura . It was claimed by some of the church writers that when a Cathar, after receiving the Consolamentum, began to show signs of recovery he or she would be smothered in order to ensure his or her entry into paradise. Other than extreme cases, little evidence exists to suggest this

4745-418: The same time, and particularly the Languedoc —and the northern Italian cities in the mid-late 12th century. In the Languedoc and northern Italy, the Cathars attained their greatest popularity, surviving in the Languedoc, in much reduced form, up to around 1325 and in the Italian cities until the Inquisitions of the 14th century extirpated them. Gnostic cosmology identified two creator deities . The first

4818-412: The stronghold at Lavaur , did not extinguish the movement. Decisions of Catholic Church councils—in particular, those of the Council of Tours (1163) and of the Third Council of the Lateran (1179)—had scarcely more effect upon the Cathars. When Pope Innocent III came to power in 1198, he was resolved to deal with them. At first, Innocent tried peaceful conversion, and sent a number of legates into

4891-407: The year 325, which states "... [I]f those called Cathari come over [to the faith], let them first make profession that they are willing to communicate [share full communion ] with the twice-married, and grant pardon to those who have lapsed ..." The writings of the Cathars were mostly destroyed because of the doctrine's threat perceived by the Papacy; thus, the historical record of the Cathars

4964-445: Was a Civitas Consorannorum (Couserans) distinct from the Civitas Convenarum (Comminges). At first the viscounty of Couserans only covered the upper areas of Couserans and did not include Saint-Lizier or Saint-Girons. The viscounty of Couserans was united to the French crown in the 1450s like the rest of the county of Comminges. Couserans became a French province of its own at that time, although some people still consider that Couserans

5037-408: Was a common Cathar practice. The Cathars also refused the sacrament of the eucharist , saying that it could not possibly be the body of Christ. They also refused to partake in the practice of Baptism by water. The following two quotes are taken from the Inquisitor Bernard Gui 's experiences with the Cathar practices and beliefs: Then they attack and vituperate, in turn, all the sacraments of

5110-403: Was also applied to the Albigensians, and they maintained an association with the similar Christian movement of the Bogomils ("Friends of God") of Thrace . "That there was a substantial transmission of ritual and ideas from Bogomilism to Catharism is beyond reasonable doubt." Their doctrines have numerous resemblances to those of the Bogomils and the Paulicians , who influenced them, as well as

5183-422: Was inhabited by a people whom the Romans called Consoranni . It seems the original inhabitants were Aquitanian , like in the rest of Gascony , and spoke a language related to the old Basque language . Later some Iberians who, like the Aquitanians, were non- Indo-European people , may have come from the Spanish peninsula and mixed with the inhabitants. Later in the 3rd century BC came the first Indo-Europeans ,

5256-517: Was similar to the Buddhist doctrine of rebirth . Cathars venerated Jesus Christ and followed what they considered to be his true teachings, labelling themselves as "Good Christians". However, they denied his physical incarnation and Resurrection. Authors believe that their conception of Jesus resembled Docetism , believing him the human form of an angel, whose physical body was only an appearance. This illusory form would have possibly been given by

5329-605: Was the creator of the spiritual realm contained in the New Testament, while the second was the demiurge depicted in the Old Testament who created the physical universe. The demiurge, often called Rex Mundi ("King of the World"), was identified as the God of Judaism . Some gnostic belief systems including Catharism began to characterise the duality of creation as a relationship between hostile opposing forces of good and evil. Although

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