“She was a beautiful child,” he said. “Good natured, fair, always laughing, singing. Everybody adored her, Harif in particular. Bertrande sat with him for hours listening to his stories about the Holy Land and about her grandfather, Bertrand Pelletier. As she grew older, she did errands for him. When she was six, he even started to teach her to play chess.”
Audric stopped. His face grew sombre again. “However, all the time the black hand of the Inquisition was spreading its reach. Having defeated the plains, the Crusaders finally turned their attention to the unconquered strongholds of the Pyrenees and Sabarthes. Trencavel’s son, Raymond, returned from exile in 1240 with a contingent of chevaliers and was joined by most of the nobility of the Corbieres. He had no trouble regaining most of the towns between Limoux and the Montagne Noire. The whole country was mobilised: Saissac, Azille, Laure, the chateaux of Queribus, Peyrepertuse, Aguilar. But after nearly a month of fighting, he failed to retake Carcassona. In October, he pulled back to Montreal. No one came to his aid. In the end, he was forced to withdraw to Aragon.”
Audric paused. “The terror began immediately. Montreal was razed to the ground, Montolieu too. Limoux and Alet surrendered. It was clear to Alais, to us all, that the people would pay the price for the failure of the rebellion.”
Baillard suddenly stopped and looked up. “Have you been to Montsegur, Madomaisela Alice?” She shook her head. “It is an extraordinary place. A sacred place perhaps. Even now, the spirits linger. It is hewn out of three sides of the mountain. God’s temple in the sky.”
“The safe mountain,” she said without thinking, then blushed to realise she was quoting Baillard’s own words back at him.
“Many years earlier, before the beginning of the Crusade, the leaders of the Cathar church had asked the seigneur of Montsegur, Raymond de Pereille, to rebuild the crumbling castellum and strengthen its fortifications. By 1243, Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix, in whose household Sajhe had trained, was in command of the garrison. Fearing for Bertrande and Harif, Alais felt they could no longer stay in Los Seres, so Sajhe offered his service and they joined the exodus to Montsegur.”
Audric nodded. “But they became visible when they travelled. Perhaps they should have separated. Alais’ name was now on an Inquisitional list.”
Was Alais a Cathar?“ she asked suddenly, realising that, even now, she was not sure.
He paused. “The Cathars believed that the world we can see, hear, smell, taste and touch was created by the Devil. They believed the Devil had tricked pure spirits into fleeing God’s kingdom and imprisoned them in tunics of flesh here on Earth. They believed if they lived a good enough life and ”made a good end“ their souls would be released from bondage and return to God in the glory of Heaven. If not, within four days they would be reincarnated on Earth to start the cycle anew.”
Alice remembered the words in Grace’s bible.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Audric nodded. What you must understand is that the Bons Homes were loved by the people they served. They didn’t charge for officiating at marriages, naming children or burying the dead. They extracted no taxes, demanded no tithes. There’s a story of a parfait coming across a farmer in the corner of his field: “What are you doing?” he asked the “Giving thanks to God for bringing forth this fine crop,” the farmer replied. The parfait smiled and helped the man to his feet: This isn’t God’s work, but your own. For it was your hand that dug the soil in the spring, who tended it“.” He raised his eyes to Alice. “You understand?”
“I think so,” she said tentatively. They believed individuals had control of their own lives.“
“Within the constraints and limitations of the times and place in which you were born, yes.”
“But did Alais subscribe to this way of thinking?” she persisted.
“Alais was like them. She helped people, put the needs of others before her own. She did what she thought was right, regardless of what tradition or custom dictated.” He smiled. “Like them she believed there would be no last judgement. She believed that the evil she saw around her could not be of God’s making, but, in the end, no. She was not. Alais was a woman who believed in the world she could touch and see.”
“What about Sajhe?”
Audric did not answer directly. “Although the term Cathar is in common usage now, in Alais’ time believers called themselves Bons Homes. The Inquisitional Latin texts refer to them as albigenses or heretici.
“So where does the term Cathar come from?”
“Ah, well, we cannot let the victors write our stories for us,” he said. “It is a term that I and others…” He stopped, smiling, as if sharing a joke with himself. There are many different explanations. Perhaps that the word catar in Occitan – cathare in French – came from the Greek katharos, meaning pure. Who can say what was intended?“
Alice frowned, realising she was missing something, but didn’t know what.
“Well, what of the religion itself then? Where did that originate? Not France originally?”
“The origins of European Catharism lie in Bogomilism, a dualist faith that flourished in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Dalmatia from the tenth century onwards. It was linked with older religious beliefs – such as Zoroastrianism in Persia or Manicheism. They believed in reincarnation.”
An idea started to take shape in her mind. The link between everything Audric was telling her and what she already knew.
Wait and it will find you. Be patient.
“In the Palais des Arts in Lyon,” he continued, “there is a manuscript copy of a Cathar text of St John’s Gospel, one of very few documents to escape destruction by the Inquisition. It is written in the langue d’Oc, possession of which in those days was considered a heretical, punishable act. Of all the texts sacred to the Bons Homes, the Gospel of John was the most important. It is the one which lays most stress on personal, individual enlightenment through knowledge – gnosis. Bons Homes refused to worship idols, crosses or altars – carved from the rocks and trees of the Devil’s base creation – they held the word of God in the very highest esteem.”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
“Reincarnation,” she said slowly, thinking aloud. “How could this possibly be reconciled with orthodox Christian theology?”
“Central to the Christian covenant is the gift of everlasting life to those who believe in Christ and are redeemed through his sacrifice on the Cross. Reincarnation is also a form of eternal life.”
The labyrinth. The path to eternal life.
Audric stood up and walked over to the open window. As Alice stared at Baillard’s thin, upright back, she sensed a determination in him that had not been there before.
“Tell me, Madomaisela Tanner,” he said, turning to face her. “Do you believe in destiny? Or is it the path we choose to follow that makes us who we are?”
“I-” she started, then stopped. She was no longer sure what she thought. Here in the timeless mountains, high up in the clouds, the everyday world and values did not seem to matter. “I believe in my dreams,” she said in the end.
“Do you believe you can change your destiny?” he said, seeking an answer.
Alice found herself nodding. “Otherwise, what’s the point? If we are simply walking a path preordained, then all the experiences that make us who we are – love, grief, joy, learning, changing – would count for nothing.”