Crusade Against the Grail - Rennes-le-Chateau Research and ...

THE CRUSADE 123
together in perfect harmony in his domains and benefited from identical rights. A
Jew named Caravita was his treasurer and Bertran de Saissac, a heretic, his
minister.
When the missionaries demanded that Roger Taillefer extradite the fugitives,
Adelaide retired to Castres with the outcasts. The lords of Castres were vassals of
the Viscounts of Carcassonne, and they belonged to the family of the "children of
the moon." Irmgard, Isarn, and Orbria were the ladies of Castres, and their brother
Guilhabert was the patriarch of Occitania; his subterranean church was located in a
cave in Ornolac.
The Cistercians tried in vain to convince Adelaide and her barons to hand over
the Cathars. They had no other option than to leave Castres empty-handed.
Meanwhile, Pope Alexander III convoked the Third Council of the Lateran in
1179. 12 The Pontiff dictated fresh, harsh measures against the Cathars of Gascony,
Albi, and Toulouse: The Count of Toulouse, the Viscount of Beziers, the Count of
Foix, and the greater part of the barons of Occitania were all excommunicated.
Pope Alexander, whose missionaries in Toulouse and the Occitan prelates told
him in terrifying terms about the growing power and audacity of the sect, believed
that the moment had come to send a new special legate to the heretical provinces
to guarantee the strict application of the resolutions of the Third Council of the
Lateran. For the second time, he entrusted this mission to the Cistercians, under
the orders of their abbot, Henri de Clairvaux. To lend more weight to his mission,
Henri, whom the Lateran council had named Cardinal-Bishop of Albano,
proclaimed a "Crusade against the Albigenses." It was the first time that such a
coercive method was employed by the Church against other Christians.
De Clairvaux and his soldier-pilgrims headed for Lavaur, one of the best-
supplied castles of the Viscount of Carcassonne. 13 At the time, Roger-Taillefer was
campaigning at the side of the Count of Toulouse, and was unable to send any
reinforcements to the besieged city. Adelaide assumed command of the defense.
But Lavaur could not resist the pounding of the Catholic army, and the
Viscountess was soon obliged to open the doors of the city to the crusaders.
The fall of Lavaur forced Roger-Taillefer to sue for peace. Although he
renounced the heresy, we shouldn't attach great importance to this: He only wanted
to avoid further disasters for his country, which was left