The Cathars of Languedoc
Sir: Whilst thanking Mr Stern for his letter on the Cathars, August 11, may I point out that his comments smack of that very literature and sources referred to in my article.
If he seriously believes the extirpation of the Cathars " saved" Europe from death and even physical extinction then I can only refer him to the sad record of the centuries immediately following the Albigensian Crusade, the escalating death toll which persists right up to our own age and the possibility of even greater confrontations.
In point of fact the Cathars recognised " evil " as a principle present since time began and one as powerful as that of " good." The all essential difference is that they sought to miti gate evil by their acts . and lives! The principle of evil has never satisfactorily been explained nor, more certainly, has it been vanquished.
With all respect to Britannica its articles are the work and personal opinions of individual contributors. They must be seen as such rather than "accepted " in the way Mr Stern suggests.
If the Middle East is used as yardstick let us recall the sorry record of the Crusades, the greed, the intrigues, the vast ambitions and colossal, useless waste of life. Let us also record that the Middle East mess of today is a direct result of Great Power manoeuverings as they ruthlessly carved up the Turkish Empire amongst themselves. We are presently repairing the harvest of that past! Should the Mediterranean or Near East explode and if Europe (who is straining might and main to "join " the Mediterranean) is involved it will be due entirely to the failure of those living in the area, or in relation to it, to co-operate and work together. The irony is that in any coming struggle the main parties, the super powers, will be in every way foreign to the region. The Cathars were apostles of non violence. They died in myriads, painfully, to prove it. They were neither medieval hippies nor debauched. The real debauchery lay with the opposition. For those who care to seek the truth the real facts are freely available. The lessons of that tremendous struggle which shook Western Europe and the Mediterranean in the crucial first quarter of the thirteenth century are tremendously applicable today.
Ion Meadows 55 Bideford Gardens, Whitley Bay, Northumberland
Previous page
