Editing Pope Innocent III (section)

====Albigensian Crusade====
[[File:Albigensian Crusade 01.jpg|thumb|280px|left|Innocent III launched the [[Albigensian Crusade]] against the Cathars.]]

Pope Innocent III was also a zealous protector of the Catholic faith and a strenuous opponent of so-called [[Heresy in Christianity|heretics]]. His chief activity was turned against the [[Albigenses]] whose expansion he viewed as a mortal threat to Catholicism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Catholic Encyclopedia : Pope Innocent III |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08013a.htm |access-date=2024-02-02 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> They were especially numerous in a few cities of Northern and Southern France. During the first year of his pontificate, Innocent sent the two [[Cistercian]] monks Rainer and Guido to the Albigenses in France to preach to them the true doctrines of the Catholic faith and dispute with them on controverted topics of religion. The two Cistercian missionaries were soon followed by [[Diego of Osma|Diego, Bishop of Osma]], then by [[Saint Dominic]] and the two papal legates, [[Peter of Castelnau]] and Raoul.

When, however, these missionaries were ridiculed and despised by the Albigenses, and the papal legate Castelnau was assassinated in 1208, Innocent resorted to force. He ordered the bishops of Southern France to put under interdict the participants in the murder and all the towns that gave shelter to them. He was especially incensed against [[Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse|Count Raymond of Toulouse]] who had previously been excommunicated by the murdered legate and whom the pope suspected as the instigator of the murder. The count protested his innocence and submitted to the pope but the pope placed no further trust in him. He called upon the King of France, [[Philip II Augustus of France|Philip II]] to raise an army for the suppression of the Albigenses. Under the leadership of [[Simon_de_Montfort,_5th_Earl_of_Leicester|Simon de Montfort]] a cruel campaign ensued against the Albigenses which, despite the protest of Innocent, soon turned into a war of conquest.<ref name="catholic.encyclopedia.ott.michael.1910"/> During the siege of [[Béziers]], the [[Arnaud Amalric|leader]] of the crusader assault famously but dubiously declared upon being asked how to distinguish [[Cathars]] from [[Catholics]] at the besieged town "[[Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius]]",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gahom.ehess.fr/relex/dialogusmiraculorum1/CdH-Dialog.mir.-Vol1/CdH-Dialog.mir.-Volume1-308.html |title=Dialogus Miraculorum |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220034410/http://gahom.ehess.fr/relex/dialogusmiraculorum1/CdH-Dialog.mir.-Vol1/CdH-Dialog.mir.-Volume1-308.html |archivedate=20 February 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Berlioz|first=Jacques|title="Tuez-les tous, Dieu reconnaîtra les siens" – La croisade contre les Albigeois vue par Césaire de Heisterbach|year=1994|publisher=Éditions Loubatières|location=Portet-sur-Garonne}}</ref> which translates as: "Slay them all, God will recognize his own." This statement is often cited as "Kill them all and let God sort them out."

The [[Albigensian Crusade]] led to the deaths of approximately 20,000 men, women and children, Cathar and Catholic alike, decimating the number of practising Cathars and diminishing the region's distinct culture.<ref name=Cheney>{{cite book|last=Cheney|first=Christopher R.|author-link = C. R. Cheney|title=Innocent III and England|year=1976|publisher=Anton Hiersemann|location=Stuttgart}}</ref> The conflict took on a political flavor, directed not only against the heretics, but also the nobility of [[Toulouse]] and vassals of the [[Crown of Aragon]], and finally brought the region firmly under the control of the king of France. [[Peter II of Aragon|King Peter II of Aragon]], Count of Barcelona, was directly involved in the conflict, and was killed in the course of the [[Battle of Muret]] in 1213. The conflict largely ended with the [[Treaty of Paris (1229)|Treaty of Paris of 1229]], in which the integration of the [[Occitania|Occitan]] territory in the French crown was agreed upon.