Holy Warriors by Jonathan Phillips

Author:Jonathan Phillips [Phillips, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-58836-975-8
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2009-06-08T16:00:00+00:00

THE SIEGE AND SACK OF BÉZIERS

The main crusade continued to head relentlessly southward and soon it entered the lands of another man accused of harboring heretics: Raymond-Roger Trenceval, the viscount of Béziers. His hometown stands on a commanding hilltop location overlooking the broad floodplain of the River Orb. On July 21, 1209, the citizens who lined its walls caught their first glimpse of a distant dust cloud: slowly it grew bigger and bigger; movement rippled underneath the billowing mass and gradually came into focus. Sunlight reflected off armor, banners bearing bright red crosses cracked in the early evening breeze, warhorses snorted and whinnied beneath their masters while cart horses strained to haul heavy wagons. This was a force with lethal intent: an army of twenty thousand crusaders set upon the destruction of the Cathar heretics, some of whom sheltered defiantly behind the town walls.19

Bishop Reynald of Béziers stood in his cathedral and tried to convince the inhabitants to surrender. His voice breaking with fear, he urged the people to reconsider their resistance. He brandished a list of the names of the 220 individuals suspected of heresy and warned of the dire consequences if they were not handed over. The citizens’ response was crisp—they told the bishop “they would rather be drowned in the salt sea than take his advice.” They cared little for the distant authority of Rome and had faith in their own beliefs and the strength of their town walls; as one contemporary dryly observed, however, “an evil gift the men of Béziers received when they were told to stand firm and give battle.”20

Reynald carried the news out to the crusader army. Grim-faced, Abbot Arnold Amalric of Citeaux, the papal legate and leader of the expedition, ordered the siege to begin on July 22. At first the defenders were confident—one crusader was seized, mutilated, and thrown off a bridge. The senior crusading nobles gathered to discuss strategy; Béziers appeared very well fortified. Yet as they talked, cries of “To arms! To arms!” rang out from their lines. The most unpredictable element of the crusader army, known as the ribauds—basically the servants and hangers-on—had become fed up with the citizens’ mockery and charged toward the walls. Armed with little more than clubs and picks they began to batter and smash away at the defenses and their ferocious onslaught provoked panic.

Astonished by the ribauds’ progress the crusading knights rushed to put on their armor and to join the fray. At the sight of the heavy knights gathering in formation, courage deserted the men defending the city and they abandoned the walls and the gates. The crusaders swarmed into Béziers, inflamed with religious zeal and determined to reap material rewards for their success in the holy war; the ribauds scented riches beyond their wildest dreams and began to seize and hoard everything they could. With a frenzied energy the crusaders started to ransack the houses, shops, and palaces; meanwhile the inhabitants sought refuge in the cathedral. Soon it was packed full

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