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15 - The Cathars

from Part II - Case Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2025

Richard Flower
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
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Summary

Were ‘the Cathars’ a medieval reality, an actual religious dissidence entertained by an organised group of people, or are they a mere figment of medieval churchmen and modern historians? In the last two decades, a fierce scholarly controversy has developed around this question. The present chapter introduces the reader to both sides of the argument.

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References

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Arnold, J. H. 2016. ‘The Cathar Middle Ages as a methodological and historiographical problem’, in Sennis, A. (ed.) Cathars in Question, York, 5378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biller, P. 2016a. ‘Goodbye to Catharism?’, in Sennis, A. (ed.) Cathars in Question, York, 274313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buc, P. 1998. ‘À propos de Communities of Violence de David Nirenberg (note critique)’, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales 53: 1243–9.Google Scholar
Feuchter, J. 2002. Review of ‘Pegg, M.G., The Corruption of Angels. The Great Inquisition 1244/45’, H-Soz-u-Kult, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/id=880.Google Scholar
Feuchter, J. 2007. Ketzer, Konsuln und Büßer. Die städtischen Eliten von Montauban vor dem Inquisitor Petrus Cellani (1236/1241), Spätmittelalter, Humanismus, Reformation 40, Tübingen.Google Scholar
Feuchter, J. 2016. ‘The Heretici of Languedoc: Local holy men and women or organized religious group? New evidence from inquisitorial, notarial and historiographical sources’, in Sennis, A. (ed.) Cathars in Question, York, 112–30.Google Scholar
Moore, R. I. 2007. The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Authority and Deviance in Western Europe, 950–1250, 2nd ed., Oxford.10.1002/9780470773987CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, R. I. 2012. The War on Heresy: Faith and Power in Medieval Europe, London.10.4159/harvard.9780674065376CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nirenberg, D. 1996. Communities of Violence: Persecution of Minorities in the Middle Ages, Princeton.Google Scholar
Pegg, M. G. 2001b. The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245–1246, Princeton.10.1515/9781400824755CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pegg, M. G. 2008. A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom, Oxford.Google Scholar
Sennis, A. (ed.) 2016. Cathars in Question, York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zerner, M. (ed.) 1998. Inventer l’hérésie? Discours polémiques et pouvoirs avant l’inquisition, Nice.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zerner, M. (ed.) 2001. L’histoire du catharisme en discussion: le ‘concile’ de Saint-Félix (1167), Nice.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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  • The Cathars
  • Edited by Richard Flower, University of Exeter
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy
  • Online publication: 17 July 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108556620.018
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  • The Cathars
  • Edited by Richard Flower, University of Exeter
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy
  • Online publication: 17 July 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108556620.018
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Cathars
  • Edited by Richard Flower, University of Exeter
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Christian Heresy
  • Online publication: 17 July 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108556620.018
Available formats
×