History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 150, the Crusade against the Cathars, Rebel Resistance rises.

Hello again.

Last week we brought the narrative up to the end of the year 1213.

We saw rebel resistance continue in Long dock despite the disastrous outcome of the Battle of Muray.

And we saw Pope Innocent appoint a version of himself, the Italian Cardinal Peter Benavinto, to try and preserve the status quo in southern France pending

the calling of an ecumenical council which would meet to determine the future of the

Crusade. would meet to determine the future of the crusade.

And Simon took off to the east to sort out some problems in Provence, only to encounter some problems of his own when the citizens of the cities of

Narbon and Montpellia refused to open their gates to let him into their towns. Now at the beginning of the year 1214 there were a

reasonable number of armed knights hostile to the crusader cause, roaming the countryside looking to cause trouble

for any crusaders they came across.

These Roytee as Lawrence Marvin calls them in his book The Occiton War, weren't part of any

army and didn't answer to any specific overlord.

They were predominantly made up of dispossessed lesser noblemen, who as the former owners of fortifications or properties taken by Simon de Monfort suddenly found themselves landless, penniless and purposeless.

It must have come as quite a shock to most of them.

For generations they had been raised in privilege in their little

corner of the world secure within the feudal system, administering their land

holdings, employing a vast range of knights, attendance and people to run their

households and work their land, when suddenly Simon de Monfort comes in, takes their family's ancient landholding by force, garrisons their fortifications

with northern Frenchmen, and expels the nobleman and their family from their homes.

According to Jonathan Sumption in his book the Albergencian Crusade,

...