Albigensian Crusade

Albigensian Crusade
Part of the Crusades

Massacre against the Albigensians by the Crusaders
DateJuly 1209 – 12 April 1229
Location
Languedoc, France
Result Crusader victory
Belligerents

Crusade

  • Papal States
  • Kingdom of France
    • Duchy of Burgundy
    • Duchy of Brittany
    • County of Nevers
    • County of Auxerre
    • County of Saint-Pol
    • Viscounty of Donges
    • Viscounty of Torèna
  • English volunteers
  • Duchy of Austria
  • Duchy of Berg
  • Electorate of Cologne
County of Aurenja
County of Provence-Forcalquier

Cathars
County of Toulouse

  • Viscounty of Béziers and Albi
  • County de Valentinés
  • Lordship of Séverac

Marquisate of Provence
Template:Country data Béarn Viscounty of Béarn
County of Astarac
Crown of Aragon

  • Template:Country data Foix County of Foix
  • County of Comminges
  • Viscounty of Carcassonne
  • Lordship of Menèrba
  • Lordship of Tèrmes
  • Lordship of Cabaret
  • Lordship of Montsegúr
Exiled knights
Commanders and leaders
  • Simon de Montfort 
  • Amaury VI of Montfort
  • Philip II of France
  • Louis VIII of France
  • Odo III of Burgundy
  • Ramon Berenguer IV of Provence
  • Balduin of Toulouse
  • Leopold VI of Austria
  • Adolf VI of Berg
  • Engelbert II of Berg
Casualties and losses
At least 200,000[1] to at most 1,000,000[2] Cathars killed
Considered by many historians to be an act of genocide against the Cathars, including the coiner of the word genocide himself Raphael Lemkin[3][4]
Political map of Languedoc on the eve of the Albigensian Crusade

The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign. Pope Innocent III started it to eliminate the Cathar heresy in Languedoc and make the Roman Catholic Church supreme there again. The nobles of the Kingdom of France did most of the fighting, and it resulted in a reduction in the number of practicing Cathars. It also resulted in a realignment of Occitania, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown.

Notes

  1. Tatz & Higgins 2016, p. 214.
  2. Robertson 1902, p. 254.
  3. Lemkin 2012, p. 71.
  4. Pegg 2008, p. 195.

References