Montpellier (Lat. ^fons pessulanus or pit ellanim), a city (if France, in the department of Herault, in 43^ 36' N. lat. and 3= 50' E. long., with a population (1862) of 39,605, is noted as the seat of several Church coun- cils held there in the 12th and 13th centuries. At the Jirst of these, held in 1162, by pope Alexander III, as- sisted by ten bishops, the antipope Victor (Octavianus) was excommunicated (Labbe, Cone, x, 1410). At the second council, held in 1195, indulgences were granted to those who marched into Spain to fight against the infidels (floors), and interdicts were intrusted to the bishops in whose dioceses the Albigenses were gaining ground (Labbe, Cone, x, 1796). At the third council, held in 1215, by the papal legate, Peter of Benevcn- [ turn, tlie question was the disposition of the city of Toulouse, and the other cities conquered by the "Cru- i saders, count Simon of Montforl claiming them. Mont- fort (q. v.) was granted his demand. There were also forty-six canons passed relating to the dress of mo- nastics and the clergy (Labbe, Cone, xi, 183, and Ap- liend. p. 2330). At the fourth council, held iu August, 1224, and composed of all the bisliops of the province, under the archbishop of Xarbonne, the jiropositions of peace made by liaymond, count of Toulouse, and the ^Vlbigenscs were considered. Raymond jiromiscd to keep the Catholic faith, and to cause it to be held throughout his territories, to purge out from them all heretics, to restore the Clmrch to her rights, to preserve her liber- ties, and to pay within three years 15,000 marks as an indemnification for what she had suffered, upon condi- tion that the count of Montfort should relini|uish his ]>retensions to the lands of tlie county of Toulouse ; but Amauri, who pretended to be count of Toulouse, in vir- tue of a decree of Innocent HI given in the Council of
Lateran, \vrote to the bishops, and represented to them that, as he hoped to be able to bring the Albigenses into subjection, it would be a scandal to the whole Church should they enter into any agreement with Kaymond. The council appear to have acquiesced in his view of the matter, and tlie ofler of Kaymond was rejected {Cone, xi, 289, and Append, p. 2334). The ffih council was held September 6, 1258, by James, archbishop of Narbonne. Eight statutes were published: 1, excom- municates ipso facto all who usurp the property of the Church and insult the persons of the clergy ; 2, forbids bishops to give the tonsure or holy orders to persons not of their own diocese; 3, declares that clerks not living as clergj-men ouglit to do so, or carrjiiig on any business, they shall lose their privileges; 5, forbids Jews to exact usury; 6, forbids bishops to give letters to mendicant friars to authorize their begging before the friars have obtained leave of the metropolitan (Labbe, xi, 778). See Hefele, Conciliengeschiehte, voL v and vi (see Lidex) ; Landon, Manual (f Councils, s. v.
Montpellierians, a fanatical sect which, under the religious garb, committed all manner of excesses, and became guilty of most immoral conduct, but which, fortunately, was only short-lived, the people soon be- coming disgusted with the licentiousness of its members. It arose at Montpellier, France, about the year 1723. Its founder, master, and high-priest took the name of Jacob I'rophetus. and designated his meeting as the "New Sion." They lield nightly meetings, in which the grossest licentiousness was indulged in under cover of religion. Their place of assembly contained numer- ous apartments, carpeted with white, and furnished with beds and mattresses. In the farthest apartment, consid- ered as the sanctum sanctorum, stood an altar, a pulpit, a candlestick with seven branches, and a gazophylakion. There were also some priests dressed in the garb of the Hebrew priests. They circumcised and baptized their children, but in the latter ceremony brandy was used instead of water. Louis XV commissioned the marquis de Roquelaure to put an end to their abomination, and the sect was speedily suppressed. See P. I. von lluth, Veisueh einer Kirchengesch. d. 18'"' Jahrh. i, 543 sq. — Herzog, Rial-Kiirgklopddie, ix, 770.
Moutredon (also called Montrond), Kaimont) J)E, a Frcndi prelate of some note, was born at Nismes near the begiiming of the 12th century. He was in 1130 archdean of IJeziers, when he was promoted to the bishopric of Agde. He was made archbi.'ihop of Aries in 1143. He died about 1155. He figured prominently in the civil affairs of France, but gave little time to the- ological studies, and left no works of value in that field of knowledge. .See Gallia Christiana, \o\. i, coL 560; Hist, litter, de la France, xiii, 236.
Montrelais, Hlguks dic, a French cardinal, was born at ^Mnntrrlais, near Ancenis, about 1315. He early entered tlie service of the Church, and was made canon, and later archdeacon, of St. Peter's at Nantes. In 1354 he was elected bishop of Nantes, but the year after he was transferred by pope Innocent VI to the see of Tre- guier, and in 1358 to that of Saint-Brienne. Devoted to Charles the Bald, Ungues accompanied that prince iu 1364 to Poitiers to assist in diplomatic conferences. He also performed other dijilomatic services. The troubles which agitated Brittany in 1371 caused llugues's re- tirement to Avignon, where pope Gregory XI created him cardinal (Dec. 20, 1375). He died there, Feb. 28,