Albigensians

Who/What: heretical group that advocated Dualism; they saw the world as torn between 2 great forces, 1 good, the other evil; the name Albigensians came from the French town of Albi in the Languedoc region; this group called themselves Cathars (“pure ones”) and believed the devil had created the material world; they renounced the world and rejected meat, wealth, and sex; they also challenged the value of the church hierarchy (p. 381); Exterminated in the Albigensian Crusade

When: 12th century

Where: Italy, Rhineland, southern France

Significance: showed conflicts within the Christian faith as well as the general concern for church reform; movements like this were part of the ferment of ideas and experiments in social life resulting from city growth. This also reveals to what links the church would go to ensure the tradition of Church hierarchy and orthodox religion--exterminating a prominent people group.