THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
the god of light, to his lower world. The work of redemption, therefore, is to restore to liberty these " lost sheep of the house of Israel," who are commingled with and superficially similar to the carnal (i.e., procreating) creatures of the god of this world. This deity, whose tool was Moses, hindered the work of redemption by his law so far as he could. But after the beneficent influence of the good god on mankind had become apparent in the Psalms and the prophets, Christ, the most perfect heavenly creature and the chief of good angels, completed the work of redemption by proclaiming the truth in an ethereal body, performing marvellous works, and returning to the invisible world of heaven after an apparent death. The Albigenses extended their Docetism (q.v.) to Mary, Joseph, and St. John the Divine. John the Baptist, on the other hand, by his baptism of water, had been the chief agent through whom the prince of this world worked in opposition to the Redeemer. Through the baptism of Jesus by the spirit, which the teachers of truth convey by the laying on of hands, is accomplished the salvation of all who accept this doctrine. Since, however, erring souls can return to their heavenly home only through the church of the Cathari, and since many have died both before and after Christ without knowing of this true church, a transmigration of souls through various forms of men and animals is assumed, perfection coming only with admission to the sect. The Cathari, therefore, enter heaven immediately upon death, but for all others death means only entrance into a new body to continue the atonement yet uncompleted. The Concorrezani, closely followed by the Bagnolesi, modified this extreme dualism, putting at the head of their system the supreme Creator who had formed the worlds of spirit and of matter, but had left the sovereignty of the second to his elder son Lucifer (the gnostic demiurge and the Bogomilian Satanael). Lucifer, originally good but fallen from heaven through pride, is the god of the Old Testament and is to be rejected. The evil one created the bodies of Adam and Eve, but God created their souls. While rejecting the Albigensian metempsychosis and other eschatological doctrines, the Bagnolesi maintained a more or less docetic Christology which was rejected by the majority of the Concorrezani. Both, however, seem to have agreed with the Sabellianism of the Bogomiles, though some were more or less Arians.
The Cathari were more uniform in cult and custom than in doctrine. They regarded as deadly sins the possession of earthly property, association with men of this world, lying, war, the killing of
animals (except snake-like creeping
4. Doctrines creatures), the eating of animal food
of the (except fish, since the latter were not
Cathari. supposed to be produced ex coitu), and
above all sexual intercourse under any conditions. Admission to the number of the " perfected " was by the laying on of hands (consolamentum); and only these " perfected " could give the consolamentum to the " faithful " or other members of the sect, or perform any part of the cult. The " perfected," moreover, were required to travel and eat in company with a companion, who might
be merely one of the " faithful." Since a single transgression after receiving the consolamentum was held to involve loss of salvation, the " faithful " often postponed it as long as possible, while, on the other hand, many of the " perfected," to escape danger of mortal sin, committed suicide, generally by starving themselves to death (the so-called endura, a custom which, found at Monteforte about 1030, seems to have spread from Northern Italy to Southern France, but did not transcend the limits of the Albigenses). Among the peculiar features of the cult of the Cathari, special mention may be made of the restriction of the right to repeat the Lord's Prayer to the " perfected," prayers for the deceased " faithful " who had not received the consolamentum and were consequently condemned to metempsychosis, the blessing of bread by the prayer of the " perfected," the breaking of bread or apparellamentum (connected with the confession of sins monthly), and the ceremonies attending the consolamentum (e.g., the kiss of peace). On the latter occasion the sick especially were wont to give at least a portion of their possessions to the " perfected," whose spiritual duties relieved them of material cares.
In Southern France neither the secular arm nor the endeavors of the Church, beginning with Gregory IX., could check the growth of the Cathari; in Northern Italy they were counted by thousands, in Florence about 1228 almost a third of the population were Cathari; nor was it until the end of the fourteenth century that the Inquisition
5. Cam- succeeded in extirpating the sect. Failpaigns ing to convert the Cathari by argument,
Against Alexander III. sent a crusading army Them. against them in Languedoc in 1181-82, but with equally scanty results. By the beginning of the thirteenth century nearly all the princes and barons of Southern France had embraced the heresy, and the Roman Catholic Church had become a jest. But with the accession of Innocent III. the state of affairs changed. At first comparatively mild measures were adopted, but on the murder of the legate Peter of Castelnau in 1208, a crusade headed by Arnold of Citeaux was formed against Raymond VI., Count of Toulouse, the protector of the Cathari. Making a separate peace with Raymond and thus weakening the Cathari, the crusaders attacked the territories of the Catharist Viscount Roger II. of Beziers, stormed Beziers and Carcassonne, and ravaged the land, which was then given to the commander-in-chief, Count Simon of Montfort. After 1211 Simon invaded the domain of Raymond, which was formally granted him at the fourth Lateran council in 1215. After the death of Simon in 1218, Raymond VI. and his son, Raymond VII., regained their lands, but at the instance of Honorius III., Louis VIII. directed a new crusade against the Albigenses and succeeded, before his death in 1226, in recapturing a part of Toulouse. Finally, in 1229, the peace of Toulouse put an end to the war. The conditions, however, were disastrous to the Albigenses, especially as a permanent inquisition was established, Raymond VII. himself being forced to aid in the extirpation of his former prot6g6s. The Cathari who revolted against