|
A Cathar is an adherent to Catharism, a belief-system which combined Christianity with apparent Manichaean influences (see Bogomils), and was considered heretical by mainstream Christians. Catharism was widespread for a short period of time in what is now south-western France, before being violently suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church and French state. After the suppression of Catharism, descendants of Cathars were, in some southern French villages, required to live in a separate area outside the main village defences or below the main village. They thus retained a certain Cathar identity, although were Catholic in religion. This practice of separation, which was not very common, was ended during the French Revolution. Some people still identify themselves as Cathars because they are (or believe themselves to be) descended from Cathars of the middle ages. In certain areas, many people will identify themselves as in some way Cathar because the region as a whole had many Cathars. These areas are known as Cathar Country (Pays Cathare), the area of France where Catharism was traditionally strongest, centred around towns such as Montsegur and Carcassonne. There are also people alive today who espouse the Cathar religion . Some believe the identity of Cathar Country is exaggerated, perhaps as a tourism-inspired phenomenon. Nonetheless it may be assumed that the overwhelming majority of the local population has at least some partial Cathar descent, and some ruins from the wars against the Cathars are still visible today. In particular, the French department of the Aude uses the title "Cathar Country". Any use of the term "Cathar" to refer to people after the suppression of Catharism in the fourteenth century is a cultural/ancestral reference, and has no religious implication.
| ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
 |
|
| |