History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 124, the Crusade against the Cathars, atrocities.

Hello again.

In the last episode we saw Simon de Monfort, Arnold

Armory and Count Raymond the 6th of Toulouse all undergo reversals of fortune.

Simon began to see his newly won territory slip through his fingers,

as his subjects began to rebel against him following the departure of the Crusader Army.

Count Raymond found himself unexpectedly in favour with Pope Innocent, who revoked his excommunication and went on to place some

surprise limitations on the powers of his legate Arnold Armory.

So we left the last episode in January 1210 with Count Raymond leaving Rome having secured an unexpected victory against his nemesis Arnold

Armory.

We left Simon de Monfor in late November 1209.

Simon had failed in his bid to be accepted as the legitimate Viscount of Carcasson and

Bezier by King Peter II of Aragon and had lost four of his knights to rebellions within

his territory.

At the end of the last episode Simon had attempted to mollify a rebellious Lord

Gero of Pepio by burying alive a crusader who had allegedly killed Gerald's uncle. Hoping that this would satisfy

Gero and keep him within the fold, Simon moved on to suppressing rebellions elsewhere.

However, the move didn't satisfy Giroux.

Instead of returning to his castle near Carcason and remaining a loyal subject of his new

Northern French overlord, Jero gathered together some other disloyal knights and rode to the stronghold of Puyscar, which was around 14 kilometers west of Bezier.

Puyscar was garrisoned by two knights and 50 sergeants who were loyal to Simon de Monfort.

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