The Cathars were here

 

Catharism was a Christian dualist revival movement in the time between the 12th and 14th centuries. Simply put, they held firm to the idea of two Gods – the good one of the New Testament, and the evil one of the Old Testament. Naturally, this didn’t wash too well with the monotheistic Catholic Church. It was round about this time that the Catholic papacy was in Avignon. So, literally just down the road from the pope’s house, and he was not too keen with this going on under his nose. So began the Albigensian Crusade to get rid of the Cathars from the Languedoc Region. I think it’s safe to assume there was a lot of cruelty. In fact this crusade has been labeled as “one of the most conclusive cases of genocide in religious history”.

Incidentally, this is where we get the word “cathartic” from. It means “the purging of the emotions or relieving of emotional tensions, especially through certain kinds of art, as tragedy or music.”

     Aperture: ƒ/5.6 Camera: Canon EOS 20D Focal length: 85mm ISO: 100 Shutter speed: 1/50s
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