The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars 1290-1329

(Paperback)

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Description

This work aims to reconstruct one of the most vividly documented fragments of medieval life concerning the late Cathar community in south-west France. Following the inquisition of the 1240s in which 10,000 Cathars were burned at the stake, it seemed this early heretical movement had been fully quashed. Fifty years later however, a revival was started, centred around the small town of Montaillou and led by the charismatic Authies brothers. It would be another 30 years before Rome finally stamped out the movement.

Reviews

"There can be fewer better guides than this beautiful book, which lets an almost forgotten people, even through the filter of time and the Inquisition, speak for themselves." --"The Washington Post Book World"
"In a feat of inspired scholarship, Weis transports us back to that world, conveying all of the high drama of ecclesiastical interrogations, covert ceremonies, and fiery martyrdom. . . . A book that will long haunt its readers."--"Booklist
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"This book reanimates the real world of the Cathars of seven hundred years ago in a way that is fresh, utterly modern, and pulsates with life."-Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, author of "Montaillou"
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""It succeeds enthrallingly . . . a moving evocation of an almost inconceivable faith."--"The Times" (London)

Author Bio

Rene Weis was born in 1953. He is Professor of English Literature at UCL and the author of Criminal Justice- The True Story of Edith Thompson, first published in 1988 to critical acclaim.