The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars

by René Weis

Book Overview

In the 13th century, a group of heretics in southwest France, the Cathars, became a serious threat to the Catholic church. In several waves of repression, thousands of Cathars were killed. Yet so... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375404902
• ISBN13: 9780375404900
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 399 Pages
• Weight: 1.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

WHEN JESUS BECAME GOD.

THIS A MUST READ FOR ANY CHRISTIAN WHO HAS NOT TOTALLY GIVEN-UP THEIR ABILITY FOR CRITICAL ANALYSIS. SHAME ON THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR NOT MAKING THIS HISTORY KNOWN TO ITS PARISHONERS. AS IF ITS PAST HISTORY IS NOT BAD ENOUGH (INQUISITION AND ALL) TO LET ITS MEMBERS BELIEVE THAT THE DIVINITY ISSUE WITH JESUS WAS A DONE DEAL WITH NO DISSENTION IS BLASPHEMY ITSELF. TO READERS OF THIS CRITIQUE, IT WAS AN ISSUE OF CONTENTION FOR NEARLY 400 YEARS AND DID NOT DIE OUT WITH THE CONCLUSION OF THE COUNCIL OF NICEA IN 325. I CAN'T HELP BUT FEEL THAT ARIANISM IN MANY FORMS IS WITH US TODAY. THIS BOOK IS WELL DOCUMENTED AND MAKES DRAMA OUT OF THIS MID-FOURTH CENTURY PIECE OF HISTORY.

The work of a genius

An exceptional presentation based heavily on historical records. Weis refrains from undue speculation and lets the records speak. Nevertheless, his exquistive writing helps bring the story to life. Ironically, the Inquisitions own detailed records from 1290-1329 were preserved and enabled Weis to recreate many of the activities in the village of Montaillou, France. Cathar religion is not the focus of this history, but elements of Cathar thought and practice are unavoidably present. The pluses and minuses of being a Cathar are presented, at least for the residents of Montaillou. Despite the asceticim of Cathar spiritual leaders, the sexual promiscuity of some Cathars is not glossed over. Sadly, in this case, the reason for the Inquistions interest in Montaillou seems to have been, not primarily their religious difference but the reluctance of people in that area to pay the Church's taxes. I read this book in 3 days, but I took a break after every 2 chapters or so because following all the detail challenged my focus. The amount of detail Weis was able to assemble is staggering. To his credit, he kept the story flowing. I've never read history at this fine a granularity. I never before was aware what life in medieval Europe might be like. Weis seems superhuman. How he assimilated so many facts and presented it so clearly and vividly is far beyond my understanding. A work of this quality and power seem to me very rare [Another book on Montaillou, by Ladurie, may be even more detailed, enough to perhaps be of interest only to academicians, but apparently makes a heavily pro-Church interpretation]. Even if the Cathars are not your interest, I'd recommend this book for its extraordinary presentation of life in a medieval village. I've never before felt this connected to people of the Middle Ages: I'm very impressed by them.

The work of a genius

An exceptional presentation based heavily on historical records. Weis refrains from undue speculation and lets the records speak. Nevertheless, his exquistive writing helps bring the story to life. Ironically, the Inquisitions own detailed records from 1290-1329 were preserved and enabled Weis to recreate many of the activities in the village of Montaillou, France. Cathar religion is not the focus of this history, but elements of Cathar thought and practice are unavoidably present. The pluses and minuses of being a Cathar are presented, at least for the residents of Montaillou. Despite the asceticim of Cathar spiritual leaders, the sexual promiscuity of some Cathars is not glossed over. Sadly, in this case, the reason for the Inquistions interest in Montaillou seems to have been, not primarily their religious difference but the reluctance of people in that area to pay the Church's taxes. I read this book in 3 days, but I took a break after every 2 chapters or so because following all the detail challenged my focus. The amount of detail Weis was able to assemble is staggering. To his credit, he kept the story flowing. I've never read history at this fine a granularity. I never before was aware what life in medieval Europe might be like. Weis seems superhuman. How he assimilated so many facts and presented it so clearly and vividly is far beyond my understanding. A work of this quality and power seem to me very rare [Another book on Montaillou, by Ladurie, may be even more detailed, enough to perhaps be of interest only to academicians, but apparently makes a heavily pro-Church interpretation]. Even if the Cathars are not your interest, I'd recommend this book for its extraordinary presentation of life in a medieval village. I've never before felt this connected to people of the Middle Ages: I'm very impressed by them.

The Folks We Know the Best from the Middle Ages

Be forewarned: This is not a book for people who know nothing of the Middle Ages, the Inquisition, the Cathars or the small Langdocien village called Montaillou. If you are one of those, plese do yourself a favor in seeking out 'Montaillou' by Emmanuel le Roy Durie first. Drawing extensively on Inquisition documents (in their original latin) as well as his own research sur place, Mr Weis offers an astounding plunge into the everyday lives of people like you or I in the 13th century. Through a fluke of history, the implantation of a heresy known as Catharism or Albighensiesm in this small village, we know more about it, mu_ch more, than any other town, large or small; from the time. The ever-vigilant eye of the Inquisition fell upon it for a couple of decades, leaving a treasure trove of infomation for enterprising scolars like Weis. Who lived where, who slept with whom? Why? Who ate what? A priori, not the stuff of exciting crime fiction, but given the elevated stakes (no pun intended, burning at the stake was an everyday reality for these humble people!) Do yourself a favor. Get to know them. For me these folks are as real as my physical neighbours, and my life is all the richer for it. Do yourself a favour. Buy this book and give it time. For the properly prepared reader, it offers a world of richness to savour and savour again!

As nasty as their reputation, and as noble

In The Yellow Cross, Rene Weis presents a detailed, daily, even hourly, account of the lives of the Albigensian majority of the village of Montaillou, in the French Pyrenees, as they try, with partial success, to ward off the Inquisition during several confrontations (1300-1325). They do it though subterfuge, cunning, courage, exile, and on occasion, truly Jesuitical testimony. Their behavior confirms the claims of both their opponents and their modern apologists. Many of the Cathar perfects, and some of the other Cathars, were faithful to the asceticism they professed. On the other hand, the dominant family in Montaillou, which Weis describes as being like Mafiosi, took advantage of their power and corrupt connections to escape scrutiny while abusing the faithful Christians in the village, falsely denouncing their enemies to the Inquisition, and even murdering them. Some of the Cathar men and women, including Montaillou's nominally orthodox parish priest, took advantage of Cathar doctrine to procure lives of sexual profligacy that did not stop at rape. I once imagined a town for a never-written novel that was founded by a Protestant sect organized upon Jesus' declaration "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Mt. 18:20). The sect held that this meant that a congregation for worship could number no more than three. The sect split further, with a splinter group holding that the passage referred to individuals while the majority thought it meant heads of households.I was reminded of this comic fantasy by a lesson given by one of the Cathar perfects on the Scriptural basis of Catharism. It amounted to a similarly narrow, selective interpretation of John's Gospel in service to a classically dualist mythology of a rebel angel creating matter, including human bodies, then sneaking into heaven to steal souls. Weis does not dwell much on Cathar doctrine; he introduces this exposition only because it was recounted by one of the Cathars and recorded by an Inquisition scribe. Likewise, the Cathars' fundamentally anti-life precepts are revealed in the casuistry of a seducer: When his target protests that sex should be confined to marriage, he responds that all sex is bad, but it is worse between spouses, because there it produces new life; anyway, it doesn't matter what we do now, because if we receive the Cathar consolatum before we die, all will be forgiven. As several episodes show, after the consolatum the patient entered the endura, in which he was deprived of food and water to ensure death.On the other side, one is impressed by the restraint and rationality of the inquisitors in the story, who in their investigations did not use torture, adhered to prescribed rules of procedure and evidence, and were more concerned with correction than punishment. Some of the accused successfully pleaded not guilty. Repentant first offenders received relatively mild punishments, such as wearing a yellow cross (enfor