The Cathars, as criticised by Evervin of Steinfeld and later writers, demonstrated remarkable austerity and command of Scripture. Calling themselves simply 'good Christians', or the 'Poor of Christ', according to Evervin's report, the Cathars constituted a counter-church of believers, clergy and bishops, which shared certain basic elements of belief, organization and ritual with the Bogomils who emerged in Bulgaria in the early tenth century. Western Cathars differed from Rome in beliefs on the nature of Christ (who for the Cathars was not truly human), the structure and role of the church hierarchy, the number and function of the sacraments, the source of evil in the world, and the possibility of salvation for aU believers. The consolamentum, a laying-on-of-hands modeled on the imposition of hands described in the New Testament, was the only sacrament necessary for salvation. It served as baptism, confirmation, ordination, forgiveness of sins and extreme unction. Neither marriage nor the eucharist was considered a sacrament, but the Cathars shared a symbolic breaking of bread. Cathars and Bogomils alike believed that matter was created by the rebellious angel Lucifer and that the last fallen soul would be saved at the end of this world. Both groups rejected icons and practised a simple repetitive liturgy. Simplicity marked their way of life; once ordained or 'consoled', the Cathar clergy, termed 'perfects', observed celibacy and renounced all ownership of property.
In the West, Catharism was especially strong in southern France and northern Italy, but it took hold in northern France and the Rhineland as well. The Cathars thrived not only in cities, but in small villages, where artisans lived, worked and worshipped together, teaching their faith and their trades, notably weaving and shoemaking. All social classes were represented among the Cathars. In Occitania, Catharism began by being strong in the upper class and then filtered down to other classes because of the unique circumstances of Occitan society, where all its members inhabited the town (castrum). Family ties represented an important bond in the Cathar network: Cathar houses, held as common property, played a religious and socioeconomic role; people were welcomed there for instruction in artisanry and religion. The Cathar religion placed no economic restrictions on believers and exacted no tithes. The Cathars despised the wealth of the Roman Church and rejected marriage as a material relationship.97
Whereas the church took actions to discourage women seeking the religious life, dissident groups tended to accord women more important roles than they could enjoy in traditional religious communities. Cathar women lived in their own houses, teaching and preaching to each other, and ministering to others through teaching, preaching, healing and even laying on ofhands to perform the sacrament. The Cathar movement offered women the option for a religious life at home, where aristocratic ladies could serve as spiritual directors for their relatives.98 The growth of Catharism sharpened the clerical hierarchy's suspicion of apostolic movements and its concern for controlling the authorisation to preach. The failure of preaching missions to Occitania contributed to the church's justification for launching the Albigensian Crusade (1209-29).99
World History
