The Crusades

Many think of the crusades as being offensive wars against the Middle East, but that just shows how much of a generation gap there is now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism

From the beginning of his reign, Pope Innocent III attempted to end Catharism by sending missionaries and by convincing the local authorities to act against them. However, in 1208 Innocent's papal legate Pierre de Castelnau was murdered while returning to Rome after excommunicating a Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, who, in his view, was too lenient with the Cathars.[10] Pope Innocent III then abandoned the option of sending Catholic missionaries and jurists, declared Pierre de Castelnau a martyr and launched the Albigensian Crusade.

Islam has its own heresies, the notable ones being the Yazidi and the Shia. Recently, the new Christian heresy is the Leftist death cult. But many of the old Christian heresies I thought were closer to Jesus Christ’s life and teachings than the secular versions of Catholicism and vassal patriarchs of Byzantium.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albigensian_Crusade

What were the notable features and benefit of this crusade few ever heard before?

The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a 20-year military campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, in the south of France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political flavour, resulting in not only a significant reduction in the number of practising Cathars but also a realignment of the County of Toulouse, bringing it into the sphere of the French crown and diminishing the distinct regional culture and high level of influence of the Counts of Barcelona.

I’m currently watching and running simulations over that area of Europe from 790 AD to 900 AD, the Viking eras and the time of Charlemagne (Karl Karling) in France vs the Muslim occupiers of Basque Spain and Barcelona. What that essentially means is that I’ve been looking at the details surrounding these historical abstract dry facts, but I haven’t gotten to that 1200 era quite yet. There’s a lot to run through, one step at a time.

Suffice it to say that the Cathars believed in equality and practiced it along with poverty and the virtues related to such. They had little if any discrimination between males and females for work related fields. Quite the social instability factor back then, as one can imagine given the Catholic Church’s power being invested in marriage and the lines of agnatic succession. The local feudal lords like the French king weren’t above using religion for politics either, as we can also see in the modern era. The reason is simple, that area between Spain and France, faced some of the toughest Islamic raids and invasions. The Spanish Basque culture got hammered and it was a culture notable for its less discriminator views of women. Catholic Christianity at least allowed succession to go to the cognatic branch, the female heirs if there were no male heirs of the primary line. Islam absolutely forbid inheritance based on matrilineal branches. Well, that’s because Islam is Islam. It wouldn’t work given their priority on jihad and slaving/raiding for females. What would a female ruler need more female slaves in the harem for? She wouldn’t be motivated to start jihads and conquer more territory for Islam or the Caliph. It just doesn’t work in the Islamic system. If there is an Islamic heresy that allowed this, that’s why they are a minor minor faction that barely exists in the 21st century. Anyways, going back to the main topic.

So that’s what was going behind that political, cultural, and/or religious re alignment mentioned in the wiki. The actual details to go along with the meaningless dry abstract stuff most people read about and then forget the next day their sports team loses or their political masters give them a new order. As I continue my research, my “findings” will continue to be refined at a higher level.

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