Editing Albigensian Crusade (section)

==Inquisition==
With the military phase of the campaign against the Cathars now primarily at an end, the [[Medieval Inquisition|Inquisition]] was established under [[Pope Gregory IX]] in 1234 to uproot heretical movements, including the remaining Cathars. Operating in the south at Toulouse, Albi, Carcassonne and other towns during the whole of the 13th century, and a great part of the 14th, it succeeded in crushing Catharism as a popular movement and driving its remaining adherents underground.{{sfn|Sumption|1978|pp=230–232}}

Punishments for Cathars varied greatly. Most frequently, they were made to wear yellow crosses atop their garments as a sign of outward penance. Others made obligatory pilgrimages, which often included fighting against [[Muslim]]s. Visiting a local church naked once each month to be scourged was also a common punishment, including for returned pilgrims. Cathars who were slow to repent or who relapsed suffered imprisonment and, often, the loss of property. Others who altogether refused to repent were burned.{{sfn|Costen|1997|p=173}}{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=602–603}} The vast majority of those accused escaped death and were sentenced to a lighter penalty.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=602–603}}

[[File:CatharCross.svg|156px|thumb|The type of [[Cathar yellow cross|yellow cross]] worn by Cathar repentants]]
[[Friar]]s of the [[Dominican Order]], named after their founder, [[Saint Dominic]], would travel to towns and villages preaching in favor of the teachings of the Church and against heresy. In some cases, they took part in prosecuting Cathars.{{sfn|Strayer|1971|pp=146–147}}

From 1242 to 1243, Raymond VII, in alliance with King [[Henry III of England]], launched an unsuccessful rebellion against France.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|pp=601–603}} In May 1242, two inquisitors were assassinated at [[Avignonet-Lauragais]].{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=603}} From May 1243 to March 1244, the Cathar fortress of [[Montségur]] was besieged by the troops of the [[seneschal]] of Carcassonne and Pierre Amiel, the Archbishop of Narbonne.{{sfn|Sumption|1978|pp=238–40}} On 16 March 1244, in retaliation for the killing of the inquisitors nearly two years earlier, a large massacre took place, in which over 200 Cathar perfects were burnt in an enormous pyre at the ''prat dels cremats'' ("field of the burned") near the foot of the castle.{{sfn|Sumption|1978|pp=238–240}} Included in the massacre was Bertrand Marty, the Cathar bishop of Toulouse from 1225.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=603}}

After this, Catharism did not completely vanish, but was practiced by its remaining adherents in secret.{{sfn|Lock|2006|p=165}} The Inquisition continued to search for and attempt to prosecute Cathars. While few prominent men joined the Cathars, a small group of ordinary followers remained and were generally successful at concealing themselves. The Inquisitors sometimes used torture as a method to find Cathars,{{sfn|Strayer|1971|p=159}} but still were able to catch only a relatively small number.{{sfn|Strayer|1971|p=160}}

Raymond died in 1249, and when Alphonse died in 1271, the County of Toulouse was annexed by the Kingdom of France.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=601}} The Inquisition received funding from the French monarchy. In the 1290s, [[Philip IV of France|King Philip IV]], who was in conflict with [[Pope Boniface VIII]], limited its funding and severely restricted its activities. However, after visiting southern France in 1303, he became alarmed by the anti-monarchical sentiments of the people in the region, especially in Carcassonne, and decided to remove the restrictions placed on the Inquisition.{{sfn|Strayer|1971|pp=159–163}}

[[Pope Clement V]] introduced new rules designed to protect the rights of the accused.{{sfn|Strayer|1971|p=162}} The Dominican [[Bernard Gui]],<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/torturers-apprentice/308838/ |title=Torturer's Apprentice |last=Murphy |first=Cullen |date=2012 |magazine=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=26 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926235649/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/01/torturers-apprentice/308838/ |archive-date=26 September 2017}}</ref> Inquisitor of Toulouse from 1308 to 1323,{{sfn|Strayer|1971|p=162}} wrote a manual discussing the customs of non-Catholic sects and the methods to be employed by the Inquisitors in combating heresy. A large portion of the manual describes the reputed customs of the Cathars, while contrasting them with those of Catholics.{{sfn|Gui|2006|pp=35–43}} Gui also describes methods to be used for interrogating accused Cathars.{{sfn|Gui|2006|pp=43–46}} He ruled that any person found to have died without confessing his known heresy would have his remains exhumed and burned, while any person known to have been a heretic but not known whether to have confessed or not would have his body unearthed but not burned.{{sfn|Gui|2006|p=179}} Under Gui, a final push against Catharism began. By 1350, all known remnants of the movement had been extinguished.{{sfn|Strayer|1971|p=162}}