The term "Cathars" derives from the Greek word Katheroi and means "Pure Ones".
The Cathars professed a theological dualism in which two coequal divine principles,
one good and one evil, struggled against each other from eternity. They believed all
matter to be evil because it was created by Satan, the principle of evil. The soul,
which has its origins in the realm of the good God, is trapped within the material body.
Such was the perceived threat posed by Cathar doctrine to the mainstream church that
in 1209 Pope Innocent III proclaimed a crusade against the Cathars. There followed
twenty years of ruinous warfare, during which cities and provinces throughout the
south of France were devastated. In one of the worst episodes of the war almost
the entire population of Toulouse, both Cathar and Catholic, were massacred.
Resistance continued until 1243 when the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in the
Pyrenees was captured and destroyed. Those who refused to renounce their beliefs
were often tortured or put to death by fire. In spite of continued persecution
the Cathar movement continued through the 14th century, only disappearing in the
15th century.
Queribus castle was one of the last to resist the crusade...