The Albigensian Crusade: How France Conquered the South

In the early 13th century, northern French knights marched south on a crusade against fellow Christians — the Cathars of Languedoc. What began as a campaign to suppress heresy became a war of conquest that ended the independent Occitan culture and brought the south under the French crown. This episode follows the key events: the murder of papal legate Pierre de Castelnau, the siege of Béziers where thousands were massacred, the rise of Simon de Montfort as a brutal crusader leader, and the long resistance of Count Raymond VI of Toulouse. We explore the Cathar faith itself — a dualist Christian heresy that rejected the material world — and how the Dominican order was founded to preach against it. The war dragged on for decades, culminating in the Treaty of Paris of 1229 that dismantled Occitan independence. We also touch on the legacy: the creation of the Inquisition, the destruction of troubadour culture, and how the region remembers its past today. A story of faith, violence, and the forging of France. #AlbigensianCrusade #Cathars #Languedoc #SimonDeMontfort #RaymondVI #Béziers #Toulouse #Dominicans #Inquisition #Occitan #Heresy #SouthernFrance #MedievalHistory #PopeInnocentIII #TreatyOfParis1229 #Crusades #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo