In the field of the Monulia was planted a garden which burst forth and blossomed every day.

It was sewn with lilies.

By the white and the red which budded and flowered were flesh and blood and weapons and

a slosh of splattered brains.

This and souls, sinners and saved, the freshly killed replenished hell and paradise.

We are joined by Renowned Historian Tom Holland, as always this week, talking about the Cathars

and Tom.

That was from an anonymous troubadour, I think, talking about the Albert Gensian Crusade,

quoted by Mark Gregory Peck in his book, A Most Holy War, which is a brilliant account

of the subject of today's episode Dominic, Albert Gensin Crusade and its aftermath.

So to recap for those people who are coming to us fresh, this is the third of a mighty

trilogy.

The first episode was about Arbino Monk, the creation of the Da Vinci code conspiracy theory,

the idea of the Cathars as the secret society part of this world, including the Templars

and the Priory of Sion, who protected the Merervingen bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

In the second episode, Tom, you talked us through the reality, the historical reality.

What historians now think about the Cathars most, not all, I think, but most, and their

role as a sort of resistance was a holdout against the great revolution of the papacy within

Christendom in what the 11th, 12th centuries, I suppose.

And now we're into the action because now there's going to be an awful lot of spattered

brains in this story.

And it's our first crusade on the show.

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