Arnaud Amalric
Arnaud Amalric | |
---|---|
Died | 1225 Fontfroide, France |
Nationality | French |
Occupation(s) | Cistercian Abbot, Papal Legate and Inquisitor |
Known for | His role in the Albigensian Crusade and the massacre of Béziers |
Title | Abbot of Poblet, Grandselve, and Cîteaux; Archbishop of Narbonne |
Arnaud Amalric (
Early life
He was abbot of
(until 1212).Albigensian Crusade
In 1204, he was named a
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius (Kill them. For the Lord knows who are His.).[3][4]
That is the origin of the modern phrase: "
Caesarius did not hear that statement firsthand but merely wrote that Arnaud was reported to have said it (dixisse fertur in the original text).[5] This famous response is widely considered apocryphal. “The notorious phrase, ‘kill them all, God will know his own’… is usually (although not invariably) discounted by serious historians. However, the quotation is frequently used by those wishing to promote the idea of northern brutality, intent upon crushing southern civilisation… It is noticeable that most commentators insert “all” for the sake of emphasis and omit fertur dixisse by which Caesarius makes clear that this is hearsay.”[6][7] Conversely, British polymath and Cathar historian James McDonald suggests that Caesarius may have only proffered such a caveat in an effort to obtain "plausible deniability." McDonald goes into detailed conjecture to explain why it is just as likely that Arnaud did utter the infamous phrase as it is that he didn't:
More aggressive soldiers of Christ on the battlefield could have found Arnaud’s words wholly admirable, while more reflective theologians safe at home might have had reservations. This would be consistent with the words being spoken by Arnaud, the army commander, and heard by crusaders in the heat of battle, and also with Arnaud the abbot and his crusade chroniclers diplomatically omitting the words from their accounts. Caesarius, an accomplished writer, knew that his Cistercian audience would be impressed by the words, but related the story in such a way as to leave plausible deniability. Only Arnaud’s alleged answer is qualified – Caesarius reports the preceding question about how to distinguish Cathar from Catholic as a fact. The qualifying words fertur dixisse refer only to Arnaud.[8]
Arnaud himself, in a letter to the Pope in August 1209 (col.139), wrote:
...dum tractatetur cum baronibus de liberatione illorum qui in civitate ipsa catholici censebantur, ribaldi et alii viles et inermes personæ, non exspectato mandato principum, in civitatem fecerunt insultum, et mirantibus nostris, cum clamaretur : Ad arma, ad arma, quasi sub duarum vel trium horarum spatio, transcensis fossatis ac muro, capta est civitas Biterrensis, nostrique non parcentes ordini, sexui, vel ætati, fere viginti millia hominum in ore gladii peremerunt; factaque hostium strage permaxima, spoliata est tota civitas et succensa...
...while discussions were still going on with the barons about the release of those in the city who were deemed to be Catholics, the servants and other persons of low rank and unarmed attacked the city without waiting for orders from their leaders. To our amazement, crying "To arms, to arms!" within the space of two or three hours, they crossed the ditches and the walls, and Béziers was taken. Our men spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex, or age, and put to the sword almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter the whole city was despoiled and burnt...[9]
Amalric's account of the death of 20,000 was likely exaggerated, just like
After helping the Crusaders capture Carcassonne, Amalric was replaced as commander of the army by Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester. However, he continued to accompany the men and to exercise significant authority. [13] On July 22, the Siege of Minerve concluded when the town's defenders agreed to surrender.[14] Simon and the commander of the defenders, Guilhem de Minerve, agreed to the terms of surrender. However, Amalric, who had been absent at the time, returned to camp. He insisted that no agreements could be considered binding without the assent of himself as papal legate.[15] Simon wished to treat the occupants leniently, but Amalric wanted them put to death. Eventually, the two worked out a solution. The Crusaders allowed the soldiers defending the town, as well as the Catholics inside of it, to leave. The Cathars who had not yet reached the status of perfect were also allowed to go free. The Cathar perfects were given the choice to return to Catholicism or face death. This solution angered many of the soldiers, who had wanted to participate in a massacre. Amalric calmed them by insisting that the majority of perfects would not recant. His prediction was correct.[16] Only three women recanted. The remaining 140 were burned at the stake.[17]
Later life
According to
Very little is known about Amalric's life after 1222. History justified the absence by noting that contrary to expectations, he took no part in the ongoing quarrels between the sons of Montfort and Raymond. On 29 September 1225, Amalric died in Fontfroide, France.[19][page needed]
References
- ISBN 0-8091-2414-9. 1982. p 114-115.
- ^ Costen 1997, p. 121-123.
- ^ Costen 1997, p. 123.
- ^ "Dialogus Miraculorum - Page 308". AHOM (in French). Archived from the original on 2012-02-20.
- ISBN 978-88-420-9306-0. p. 116
- ^ Malcolm Barber, “The Cathars: Dualist Heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages”, p. 211/12 note 20
- ISBN 9781139470148.
Most famous of all is the story that supposedly at the height of the fighting, as the crusaders forced their way into the town, someone asked the legate Arnaud-Amaury how they would separate the good Christians from the heretics. His apocryphal words, Kill them, God knows who are his, reported by a Cistercian monk with a fanciful imagination, have become a byword for religious intolerance, placing what happened at Béziers on the top rung of pre-modern atrocities. Though Arnaud-Amaury was not above executing heretics, in 1210 this inflexible and unyielding man gave Cathars who surrendered a fair chance to abjure their heresy and so avoid execution, which heaps more doubt on the credibility of Caesarius' report. The speed and spontaneity of the attack indicate that the legate may not have actually known what was going on until it was over.
- ISBN 979-8598792780.
- ^ Albigensian Crusade
- ^ Laurence M. Marvin (25 March 2009). "The Storm of Béziers". Warandgame.com. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2011.
- ISBN 9780674023871.
- ^ Marvin, Laurence W. The Occitan War: A Military and Political History of the Albigensian Crusade, 1209–1218 Cambridge University Press, 2008, p. 43
- ^ Peter of les Vaux de Cernay 1998, pp. 101.
- ^ Marvin 2009, p. 77.
- ^ J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi 1973, p. 63.
- ^ Strayer 1971, p. 71.
- ^ Peter of les Vaux de Cernay 1998, pp. 156.
- ^ Rose, Hugh James (1857). "Amalric, Arnaud". A New General Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 1 AA–ANS. London: B. Fellowes et al. p. 376.
- ISBN 9781925427332
Bibliography
Secondary sources
- Costen, Michael D. (1997). The Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-4331-X.
sacraments.
- ISBN 978-0521123655.
- J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi (1973) [1826]. History of the Crusades Against the Albigenses in the Thirteenth Century. New York, NY: AMS Press.
- ISBN 0-472-09476-9.
Primary sources
- ISBN 0-85115-807-2.