CATHARISM
Long before catharism became a tool for promoting tourism in the area, Languedoc was deeply marked by this school of thought, characteristics of which left their mark on Occitan society on social, cultural, and religious levels. Today we find « Cathar cassoulet», «Cathar rallies», «Cathar wines», ... so many marketing schemes dating from at most a century ago, and having no real link to catharism, all the more obviously so when we learn that they were vegetarians ! Above all catharism was a religion of which we most often have a pale reflection seen through the numerous documents the inquisition produced on the subject. Even the works which serve as references on the subject, such as «Le Catharisme» by Jean Duvernoy (Editions Privat, Toulouse, 1992) use these partial, though rich sources which are the inquisitorial depositions which followed the surrender of Montségur, known as the synagogue of Satan by the Church of Rome. « ... God makes not good wheat and cares not, it’s the manure put in the ground which makes it… » Pierre Authié’s deposition (1300) From the Jaques Fournier’s Inquisition Register, quoted by Jean Duvernoy («Le Catharisme, la religion des cathares», éditions Privat, Toulouse, 1992). Though related in certain ways to bogomile dualism, catharism has, in its own right, been the object of much discussion the aim of which has been to determine its real origins. The fact that two schools of thought both have similar ideas does not necessarily mean that there is a tangible link between them… Bogomilism grew considerably in Bulgaria, under the reign of Peter I (927-929). Certain characteristics of this movement were in contradiction with those which Catharism espoused a few decades later. This was particularly the case concerning the attitude towards the Church of Rome which was considered to be a manifestation of Satan, through its over spending dignitaries (this is where the term « prelate » comes from. Today, Bogomilism is sometimes considered to have been a revolutionary movement. The Occitan region showed no sign of such reaction except in the persons of knights who had lost their lands and fortunes, following their political and religious stances during the Crusades. Catharism is also sometimes linked to Manès (or Mani), founder of manicheism, which was a movement in IIIrd century Mesopotamia. Certain similarities do certainly exist, particularly concerning the dualistic approach to the world, separating the material and the physical, good and evil. No Cathar text makes reference to Manès however, and it is probable that this comparison is the fruit of current day interpretation rather than a real link between these two historical schools of thought. We must recognize, however, one point that these two visions of the world had in common, their extermination ...