Inquisitors and Heretics in Thirteenth-Century Languedoc

Book excerpt: In the study of inquisition and heresy in Languedoc the late thirteenth century is a dark hole. This book redresses this, providing an edition and translation of depositions of heresy suspects interrogated in Toulouse 1273-82, preserved in a copy of 1669. The book’s introduction investigates the history and reliability of this copy, and, together with the edition, illuminates the inquisitors and scribes who produced the original register. The edited text shows a Cathar hierarchy in exile in Italy, a Cathar revival in Languedoc, and its destruction by a re-launched inquisition. Inquisitors’ questioning led to depositions which are extraordinarily colourful and lively, and in this they anticipate the circumstantial detail of the early fourteenth century depositions upon which Le Roy Ladurie’s famous Montaillou was based.