Is Catharism the same as Albigensianism?

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Davidius

Puritan Board Post-Graduate
I remember hearing from Reformed folk that the Albigensians were some kind of proto-Protestants. When I searched for them on Wikipedia, I got an entry for "Catharism." Are these the same? The article states that Catharism was done away with during the Albigensian Crusade, but the beliefs attributed to them in the article sound like the only thing they have in common with Protestants is that they Protested against "perceived immorality in the Church." They sound like gnostics. They believed that earth and matter were evil and that our world had been created by Satan (like the Demiurge in gnosticism) and that he was the God of the Old Testament, some kind of docetism, that sex was generally a bad idea and procreation to be avoided, no eating meat or dairy, possibly denying a bodily resurrection, et al. What's all this about?

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism[/ame]
 
:confused: it is all new information to me, but will look forward to being given some great answers from the people here ;)
 
Albigensianism is usually described as a mix of Catharism and Waldensianism. Catharism is a bizarre dualistic heresy, and Waldensianism started off orthodox but stressed lay preaching and voluntary poverty. I'm at a loss to recommend a great resource, since most of the reading I've done has been tangential to my actual research.

The Great Medieval Heretics by Michael Frassetto is a text at GPTS dealing with those topics. It's introductory, but good for an introduction. You find more information about them simply by studying the period.
 
Try this, [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perfect-Heresy-Life-Death-Cathars/dp/1861973500]The Perfect Heresy: The Life and Death of the…Amazon.co.uk: Stephen O'Shea: Books[/ame]

It is good into & writen on a popular level.
 
This whole nonsense is due to a protestant belief that anything that the Pope did not like had to be a good thing. Rome used to accuse all its enemies of gross heresy and it was therefore understandable that such allegations were met with disbelief by protstants. However all the evidence that we have suggests that Cathars were Manichaeistic heretics.

What is amazing is the almost total lack of Christain influence on Catharism, it is amazing that such a sect just seemed to spring up at this time and place in history.

At pretty much the same time Rome rooted out both Catharism (ugly heresy) and Waldensians (proto Protestants) so in Romes eyes the two merged, although I am not aware that any independant scholarship suggets any material syncrenism between the two.

My own favourite book on the subject is:

[ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Massacre-At-Montsegur-History-Albigensian/dp/1842124285/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239065177&sr=1-1]Massacre At Montsegur: A History Of The Albigensian Crusade: Amazon.co.uk: Zoe Oldenbourg: Books[/ame]
 
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