Stuck in the 13th Century
- Tim Case
- Feb 17, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Mar 25, 2024
Beziers, France
February 17,2024
Dear friends and family,
It’s an early morning because Mo was hungry. He knows that if he makes enough noise with his mischief he can get me out of bed, and it works every time. And lest you think I’m a bad pet parent, he’s not starving. It’s just that there is no food in the dish. When I get out of bed, he stomps his way over to the dish and sits straight up and stares at me. After I have dutifully put food in their dishes he eats a few morsels, waits to make sure I put fresh water in the dish and then goes about his business.
While we are on the topic, for those of you who know them, Manny and Mo are doing well and seem to have forgiven me for drugging them and dragging them halfway around the world. I am glad they are here, they are good about reminding me that I’m not in charge, and sometimes you need to just stop and enjoy the moment. Manny is having one of those mornings, he wasn’t ready to get out of bed this morning and has been demanding morning cuddles. I am not allowed to have a laptop, electronic device or even a cup of coffee in hand during one of his cuddle sessions. He makes it clear that he’s expecting my undivided attention. This of course makes Mo terribly envious, which is ironic because Mo doesn’t like to cuddle. He doesn’t even like to be held, but when Manny is demanding his cuddles, Mo glares at me as if he’s plotting my death.
We had another beautiful week here. There were a few clouds and little bit of rain, not as much as we might need. On a sunny day I took the opportunity to walk and explore the river and canals. There is more exploration to be done in this area, I know that I have not made it to the locks which are an important part of Canal du Midi and the development of this area, I got stuck in the early 13th century.
Le Pont Vieux, a bridge built in the Middle Ages, at the foot of the bluff and under the imposing Cathedral of St. Nazaire and St. Celse, captured my imagination and I walked about mainly looking at the incredible views of the ancient bridge, the Orb river, and the cathedral which appears to sit on top of the ancient prison (now hotel.) I’ve posted some pictures that you can find by clicking on the Instagram link at the bottom of the page.
According to Wikipedia Beziers dates back to 575 BC. I grew up in Rockford, Michigan which Wikipedia reports was first settled in 1842 and known as Laphamville in 1845 but was incorporated as Rockford in 1866. I think that’s why my brain starts to itch when I begin thinking about the history of where I’m living today.
On the particular day I’m writing about, I walked and took way too many pictures of the cathedral, none of which are any better than the many you will find online with a simple search, my imagination was stuck in the early 13th Century. The current cathedral was not there, the bridge may have been there but I’m not really certain. My search for a citation on the age of the bridge was unsuccessful, however, it is clear that Beziers was on the Roman road that connected Italy to Hispania.
I could not help but imagine what the city on this bluff might have looked like to St. Dominic as he approached it, at least in my musings. The cathedral that was on the site then would have been surrounded by a walled fortress. It must have been awe striking to approach and see the spires of a cathedral rising above the fortified city which I imagine appeared to be towering above the river and plains below.
St. Dominic visited southern France in the early 1200’s, where he encountered the religious group known as the Cathars or Abigensians. Albi, a town in France was said to be the headquarters of the Cathars. Clearly, Dominic felt that preaching could overcome their heresy. He founded a convent of Dominican Nuns in 1206, these nuns were said to be converts from Catharism, and no doubt part of his inspiration to found the Order of Preachers to combat heresy and spread truth,
I don’t know for a fact that Dominic visited Beziers, but it is certain that Beziers was a Cathar strong hold and Dominic spent time in Southern France trying to refute the Albigensian heresy.
Unfortunately, St. Dominic was a bit too late to save Beziers. The Order of Preachers was officially founded in 1216. While he was gathering followers and preaching against the Albigensian heresy in the first decade of the 13th century, the Abligensian Crusade took its toll on Beziers before the order was officially founded and only shortly after he had founded the convent.
On July 21, 1209 Crusaders arrived at Beziers and set up camp outside the city. The Catholics of Beziers had been warned to turn over the heretics or suffer their fate. They did not turn over their fellow citizens and attempted to scare off the Crusaders on July 22nd of 1209. It did not go well, and in the end the city of Beziers was destroyed and most of its citizens were slaughtered.
The Papal legate, Arnaud Amalric, in charge of the Crusaders was rumored to have said “Kill them all. God knows his own.” This is a modern English translation but seems to capture at the very least the sentiment of how the Crusade was later perceived and I believe to be one of the many great one-liners of French history.
There are differing versions of the story, and this alleged quote is not the tone of the Legate’s letter to Rome reporting on the massacre, but one can imagine that he knew that his letter to Pope Innocent would be his, the victors, record of the event.
So, I spent a good part of my day wishing the carved stones of that glorious bridge could speak. Perhaps they witnessed this massacre, and the burning of the cathedral and two other churches that were filled with the townspeople of Beziers seeking refuge on that day in 1209. They may have also witnessed the building of the current cathedral on the very foundation of the cathedral that had been destroyed.
I must admit that I was exhausted at the end of the day. Partly because it is a steep hill to climb up and down and I tramped around on rutted paths staring at the city and its cathedral from many angles, and partly because my imagination was captured as I imagined that early part of the 13th Century that has left its indelible mark on Beziers.
If you’re interested, there are great articles on both Wikipedia’s and the Encyclopedia Britannica's web sites. In particular I consulted the websites pages on the massacre, St. Dominic, and Beziers to better understand what I was reimagining.
Now I think it’s time to go for another walk and hopefully I’ll make it to the 19th century locks!
I hope you are all well.
Bonne Journée!
The sites that I read in the aftermath of my walk:
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