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The Travesty of the Albigensian Crusade

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The Albigensian Crusade was started by the Roman Catholic Church under the order of Pope Innocent III as what was actually a travesty of a religious movement, as it had hardly any religious impact. It did, however, lead to immense political, pecuniary, and sociocultural alteration in the Holy Roman Empire and France in the 13th Century AD because it really wasn’t about religion; it was about power. Wealth was spread and lost throughout the Holy Roman Empire and France as the fighting raged on. Southern France’s political power was abolished and replaced as a result of the attacks on Languedoc, a powerhouse for beliefs contrary to Roman Catholicism. A cultured was razed and a society was forever changed.
Languedoc was home to many trade towns on the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic Ocean (Tyerman 576). It had been very prosperous and had become a fairly wealthy region; however the destructive nature of the crusade’s campaigns including: looting and burning cities, and decimating its residents led to the atrophy of Languedocs economy.The Albigensian crusade was a sumptuous endeavour (Tyerman 97) meaning that the Church, who sponsored the crusade, would need to acquire the funds necessary to support the crusaders. Which wasn’t too difficult, as the Church actually controlled most of the wealth in the Holy Roman Empire (Roberts 124) through taxing its members. Taxation of citizens of the empire and donations from the more affluent and pious aristocrats financed the

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