By Mark Mettler

An Interpretation of the Inquisition Record of Bishop of Pamiers, Jacques Fournier, Le Registre d'inquisition de Jacques Fournier (Paris: Mouton, 1978) as Translated from Latin into French by Jean Duvernoy.

In a study of the church, the Christian faith and the beliefs of those considered heretical in fourteenth century France, there are a few resources one can use. One very intriguing manuscript of this period is the inquisition record kept by the Bishop of Pamiers, Jacques Fournier in the year 1320. The complete and thorough examination of a faith of course can not be totally derived from a single document with absolute certainty, but this manuscript does give us a very comprehensive picture of what beliefs formed the basic heretical faith of the Manichean Cathar. This is possible not only from the individual confession of Beatrice, widow of Othon of Lagleize of Dalou, but also from the questions put to her by her inquisitors.

The "Good Christians" as they called themselves were nothing new to the fourteenth century. Gnosticism or Dualism had been documented as far back as the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. This belief in a two-God system is a foundation of the Manichean Cathar. The logic behind this is that an all-powerful God would not have created man to condemn him eternally to an existence in sin. A good God would have protected his creation from all evil. Therefore, there must be two gods, one of the spirit realm and one of the corporeal realm. This belief in the spirit realm is deeply imbedded in the faith of the Cathar; it is magnified by the belief that the spirit of a man is as old as creation itself. "These spirits later take on bodies, and the world will not end before all of them have been incarnated into the bodies of men and women. Thus it is the soul of a new born child is as that of an old man." (Pg. 503) Another interesting part of this spirit world is that the spirits traveled from body to body through the birth and death cycle of men a total of nine times. "If in these nine bodies they do not find a good Christian, the soul is damned." (Pg. 503)

This brings us to a second principal belief. "Bons hommes," good men, were the only true 'Good Christians' that would be saved from eternal damnation. It is because of this belief that they chose to live separate and away from "The wolves and dogs (that) were the bishops and the Dominicans, who persecute the good Christians and chase them from this country." (Pg. 503) This persecution also had something to do with why they lived apart, but we also see another belief. If a newborn child, never exposed to the sin of the worldly, living in solitude with the Cathar could be kept unto itself, it would be a holy thing born without sin.

The Cathar was non-violent. To even kill an animal would be a sin. This is evident from the fact that failure to kill an animal even for the purpose of food preparation was an immediate sign for the good Catholic to report a heretic in their midst. The Cathar also believed that the bodies of beasts also held the original spirits, and though they can not speak while in the body of a beast, they are endowed with the same reason and understanding. "This is why it is a sin to kill any animal or person." (Pg. 507) From this we might draw the conclusion that a good Christian would have indeed been vegetarian also.

A clear attitude of taking the Bible quite literally seems to be taking shape. And not the entire Bible, but the New Testament, seems to be a basis of faith because, we do not find the Old Testament used to justify their faith. Compare this verse from 2 Corinthians 6:17 of the Bible, "Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And no not touch what is unclean; And I will welcome you." Also compare it to the commandment, "Thou shall not kill." (Exodus 20:13) which is repeated by Jesus in the New Testament in Matthew 5:21. We can also find the basis of the belief of the Cathars as the only ones to be saved through poverty and keeping the commandments. Mark 10:25, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." We see this exact logic used on page 502. It is important to note this pattern because for the Cathar, his faith was based on the words of Jesus and not the words of fallible men who were bishops and priests. This fallibility of men was the basis for the Cathars total distrust of and disgust with the Catholic Church.

Another interesting and profound belief of the Cathar is found in current-day Christian faith. The representational value of the Eucharist as a symbol and not the incarnate body of the Christ can be found in the comments of the heretic Beatrice. "You believe that what the priests hold at the alter is the body of Christ? Surely, if it was the body of Christ, even if it was as large as this mountain, the priests would have already eaten it all themselves." (Pg. 501) For the Cathar, the Eucharist most certainly could not be the body of Christ, only a symbol of it. Another current-day belief in Christendom is that only God can forgive sin. This belief, that the confession was useless, can be seen reflected from the comment of the Cathar to Beatrice. "But the confession that one makes to the priest which is ignorant of the sin until it is revealed to him and who does not have the power to absolve sin has no value and is only made for the ostentation and the splendor of this world. Because only God can absolve sins, man cannot." (Pg. 506) This was a clear contradiction of the church, for if a priest could not absolve the sin of man, then penance was also of no use to man. Penance, or the belief in earthly punishment for ones sins, must also have been contrary to the belief of the Cathar, for Christ alone absolves a man of sin. "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

On the matter of Christ there are some clear differences of opinion. The Cathar believed that Christ did not take his flesh from the Virgin Mary, that Christ never ate nor drank while on earth, and that the worship of Christ on the cross, or even of the cross itself is an abomination. These beliefs are difficult to reconcile with scripture and so too must have been very difficult for the church to accept as slightly varying opinion from what was acceptable. Certain death was also a part of the faith. A new convert would only be allowed to drink pure water and "when the people thus die of weakness they become the saints of God."(Pg. 508) Now of course, not all Cathars were destined for sainthood by starvation, thus the second death was that of the stake. The Cathar dealt with this fear by saying that a good Christian became saint in this manner also and by pointing out, that "good Christians did not feel fire because fire with which they were burned cannot hurt them." (Pg. 503)

There is also another possible belief. We must be careful not to confuse this portion of the inquisitorial confession with the other portions thus far listed, because of the nature of the circumstance. On the sacrament of marriage Beatrice confesses that Raimond Roussel of Rades did often try to convince her to run away with him giving Biblical reference to leaving one's husband or child, or even having ones eyes plucked out, rather than be lost to the world. One might draw the conclusion from this that the Cathar believed it acceptable to break the vow of marriage. I do not believe this is an accurate picture of the Cathar faith, however, but the twisted reasoning of a man tormented with desire. It would seem that Beatrice might have indeed been a very beautiful woman, as she even tempted a priest who consummated his desire with her frequently, even in the sanctuary of the church! It is probably more likely that the Cathar believed in monogamy or abstinence because so many of their core beliefs are drawn from the New Testament. This sexual indiscretion was probably the workings of human nature and not that of Cathar faith.

I have drawn the previous beliefs from the confession of Beatrice, now let me draw some of those beliefs from the questions asked by the inquisition.

"Did anyone ever tell you that the devil was the principle and the maker of the corporeal creatures in the sense that they were not made or produced by God?" (Pg. 513) From this statement it can be learned that from previous exposure to the Cathars, the church was aware of certain heretical views of Dualism in which Satan was the second God, who made all that is seen.

"Have you heard these or others say that there are two souls in people?" (Pg. 513) This is yet another reference to how the Cathar dealt with evil. There must be two souls, one of good and one of evil, just as there are two Gods. There is also a division of the realms of spirit and flesh "Since then the soul of man belongs to God and the body to the devil" (Pg. 507)

"Did this priest or the other believers deny the baptism of water?" (Pg. 514) Beatrice answered this question by only saying she never heard it. But why was the question asked? Did the Cathar deny baptism, even though Christ had commanded it? If we consider the first belief of the Cathar, that all that is corporeal is evil, then we might draw a parallel that water then was corporeal, and therefore baptism in evil could serve no purpose. This is only my personal theory though and other documents might shed light on this belief.

We have drawn many things from this inquisition of Beatrice. It was interesting to me that even though fifteen years had passed since Beatrice had committed the heresy, the church still felt it necessary to seek out and condemn her for her words. There indeed must have been a real threat to the church by this movement, its beliefs and its followers. We can see in the beliefs of the Cathar, the early movement of reform through the medieval church that predates Hus and Luther. Beatrice was but a simple villager of the lower nobility. We can see from her confession the common beliefs of those who were not even actual members of the Cathar mainstream faith, but only familiar with its followers.