The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade: A Sourcebook ed. by Catherine Léglu, Rebecca Rist, and Claire Taylor (review)

According to the editors of this volume of translated primary material relating to the Albigensian Crusade and its aftermath, ‘there has never been a more exciting time to study sources for medieval heresy’ (p. 134). It is certainly true that interest in the Cathars and the war waged against them in thirteenth-century Occitania shows little sign of abating among scholars, students, or indeed lay visitors to the ‘Pays Cathare’. This sourcebook serves at least some of the needs of all three readerships. The cover blurb promises us a ‘highly original collection’ of ‘previously unexplored and in some cases unedited material’; while all of the texts translated are available in print or online in their original language — and some of them are very well known — the diversity of material anthologized here certainly justifies the epithet ‘original’. The first section, edited by Rebecca Rist, takes us on a whistle-stop tour of letters issued by the papal curia, from Innocent Ill’s early attempts to encourage bishops and secular lords to eradicate heresy to Innocent IV’s important torture-sanctioning decretal of 1252. Section II, edited by Catherine Léglu, introduces readers to the troubadours and their various responses to the Albigensian Crusade, the songs and medieval biographies pleasingly selected to bring out intertextual play. Section III, edited by Claire Taylor, is devoted to inquisitorial registers, providing a fascinating insight into the lives of suspected Cathars and the punishments meted out against them. The final, co-edited section comprises extracts from the major Latin and Occitan chronicles, focusing on particularly arresting episodes such as the Fall of Béziers, as well as an extract from the Occitan pseudo-debate poem Las novas del heretje. A jointly authored introductory chapter, giving an admirably clear historical overview, a valuable ‘further reading’ section, and the usual indexes complete the volume. The editors have a broad public in their sights. The usefulness to the historian of different types of document is assessed, each of the pieces is rigorously contextualized, and ample attention is paid to the literariness of these texts. The translations into English are all highly readable, but Rist’s renderings of the papal letters might be singled out as especially sensitive. Notes are restricted to the odd explanatory gloss, but, for the sake of consistency, perhaps these could have been even more plentiful: if ‘usury’ (p. 2), ‘the Enemy’ (p. 69), and the ‘Our Father’ (p. 195) warrant explanation, why not ‘legate a latere’ (p. 66), the ‘Beguines’ (p. 115), and ‘vavassors’ (p. 182)? Though within the grasp of undergraduates, there is nonetheless much here of interest to more senior scholars of literature and history. This is a well-compiled anthology of texts that offer multiple and contrasting perspectives on one of the most infamous events of the High Middle Ages. If it is an exciting time to be studying medieval heresy, this sourcebook makes a welcome contribution to spreading the excitement.