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VOL. XI.

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THE TOWN OF BEZIERS, IN FRANCE.

Its

PERSECUTIONS OF THE ALBIGENSES. BEZIERS, or Bésiers, is a town in the south of France, built upon a hill which rises in the midst of a wellwooded and well-cultivated valley, and at the foot of which runs the river Orbe. It is a place of great antiquity: it existed during the dominion of the Romans, and was one of their early colonies. original name was Boterræ; but it acquired afterwards the additional designation of Septimanorum, because the soldiers of the seventh legion (who were called Septimani) were settled here. After suffering from the Visigoths in the fifth century, and the Saracens in the eighth, it began to flourish under the kings of the Carlovingian dynasty; and in the tenth century had viscounts of its own, who shared with the bishops the temporal jurisdiction of the city, and became vassals of the kings of Aragon.

The situation of Béziers is remarkably fine; "it rises," says Malte Brun, " on a hill that commands a view of a rich valley, where the sad foliage of the olive is united with the verdant leaves of the mulberry, where gardens, orchards, vineyards, and country houses, extend on both banks of the Orbe." The town is enclosed within an old wall flanked with towers, and is surrounded by rows of trees. "We entered," says an English writer, "at the gate of the citadel, into a large square, open on one side, with a view over the country to the Mediterranean. The streets which lead from this spacious square are narrow beyond all precedent. We entered one just wide enough to admit our carriage, and drove down a very steep descent." On the highest point of the town stands the stately cathedral of Béziers, which is joined to the Bishop's palace on the pinnacle of the hill, and frowns over the town more like a fortified castle than a church." The interior is not handsome; it has an organ supported by some singular bearded figures, which some take to be satyrs, and others to be doctors of law. The terrace, which extends in front of the cathedral, is remarkable for the beauty of its prospect; the view from this elevated spot a richly-varied country, through extending over which the river Orbe winds to the Mediterranean. Close to the town passes the celebrated Canal du Midi, or Canal of the South, otherwise called the Canal of Languedoc; the Orbe is joined by this canal, and thus Béziers enjoys the advantages of an extensive inland navigation.

The quays (says Mr. Carey) were covered with barrels, and the basin of the canal was crowded with boats, and numerous hands were actively employed in loading and unloading them. Everywhere the signs of business and commerce were visible. The canal is brought to the evel of the river by eight (others say nine) locks; the wood-work of them, as well as the machinery near, and also the warehouse shutters and doors, are painted of a bright green, which has an incongruous, whimsical effect. The ab indance of verdigris at hand, it being one of the staple com modities of the country, accounts for the circumstance.

Historically speaking, Béziers possesses a high degree of interest from its sufferings in the crusade against the Albigenses; many of the inhabitants had embraced the opinions of that sect, and when the crusade began, their town was the first upon which the persecution fell. In a former article we traced the origin of this persecution, and its progress, until the year 1207, when Pope Innocent the Third having imposed upon the princes of the country the task of exterminating the "heretics," and judging that they proceeded too slowly in the work, thought first of preaching a crusade against that unfortunate people, and calling in strangers to aid in its accomplishment. * See Saturday Magazine, Vol. X., p. 210

In the month of November of that year, he wrote to Philip Augustus, King of France, and to all the "counts, barons, knights, and faithful, of that kingdom," exhorting them to make war upon the Albigenses, and promising as their reward, in this life the confiscation of the goods of that people, and in the other, the same indulgences as were granted to those who fought the infidels in the Holy Land. Before these letters could produce any effect, an event occurred which "redoubled the rage of the pope, and the bigots, and kindled the sacred war," as it was impiously called.

Peter de Castelnau, the pope's legate, judging that Count Raymond did not proceed in the work of extermination with adequate zeal, went to him with his brother legate, reproached the Count to his face with his baseness, as he termed it, treated him as a perjured favourer of heretics, and a tyrant, and again excommunicated him.

This lord, (says Sismondi,) exceedingly provoked, threatened to make Castelnau pay for his insolence with his life. The two legates, disregarding this threat, quitted the court of Raymond without a reconciliation, and came to sleep, on the night of the 14th of January, 1208, in a little inn by the side of the Rhone, which river they intended to pass the next day. One of the Count's gentlemen happened to meet them there, or perhaps had followed them. On the morning of the 15th, after mass, this gentleman entered into a dispute with Peter de Castelnau, respecting heresy and its punishment. The legate had never spared the most insulting epithets to the advocates of tolerance; the and now feeling himself personally offended, drew his gentleman, already irritated by the quarrel with his lord, poignard, struck the legate in the side, and killed him. The intelligence of this murder excited Innocent the Third to the greatest excess of wrath. Raymond the Sixth had by no means so direct a part in the death of Castelnau, whom the church regarded as a martyr, as had Henry the Second, in the death of Thomas à Becket. But Innocent the Third was more haughty and implacable than Alexander the Third had been. He immediately published a bull, addressed to all the counts, barons, and knights, of the four provinces of the Southern Gaul, in which he declared that it was the devil who had instigated his principal minister, Raymond, Count of Toulouse, against the legate of the should afford a refuge to the murderers of Castelnau: he holy see. He laid under an interdict all the places which demanded that Raymond of Toulouse should be publicly anathematized in all the churches; "and as," added he, "following the canonical sanctions of the holy fathers, we must not observe faith towards those who keep not faith towards God, or who are separated from the communion of the faithful, we discharge, by apostolic authority, all those who believe themselves bound towards this Count, by any oath either of alliance or of fidelity, we permit every Catholic man, saving the right of his principal lord, to cially for the purpose of exterminating heresy. pursue his person, to occupy and retain his territories, espe

This bull was speedily followed by letters equally fulminating, to the King of France, to the bishops, barons, &c., inciting them to begin the crusade.

We exhort you (said the Pope) that you would endeavour to destroy the wicked heresy of the Albigenses, and do this with more rigour than you would use towards the Saracens themselves: persecute them with a strong hand; deprive them of their lands and possessions; banish them, and put Roman Catholics in their room.

The monks of Citeaux, at whose head was their abbot, Arnold Amabric, having received powers from Rome to preach the crusade among the people, gave themselves to the work with an ardour which had not been equalled by the celebrated hermit Peter, or his successor, Fulk of Neuilly. Innocent the Third, impelled by hatred, had offered to all who should take the cross against the Provençals, the utmost extent of indulgence which his predecessors had ever granted to those who laboured for the delivery of Palestine and the Holy Sepulchre

As soon as these new Crusaders had assumed the sign of the cross (which, to distinguish themselves from those of the East, they wore on the breast instead of the shoulder), they were instantly placed under the protection of the holy see, freed from the payment of the interest of their debts, and exempted from the jurisdiction of all the tribunals; whilst the war which they were invited to carry on, at their doors, almost without danger and expense, was to expiate all the vices and crimes of a whole life.

The belief (says Sismondi) in the power of these indulgences, which we can scarcely comprehend, was not yet abated; the barons of France never doubted that whilst fighting in the Holy Land, they had the assurance of Paradise. But those distant expeditions had been attended with so many disasters; so many hundreds of thousands had perished in Asia, or by the way, from hunger, or misery, or sickness, that others wanted courage to follow them. It was then with transports of joy that the faithful received the new pardons which were offered them, and so much the more, that, far from regarding the return they were called upon to make, as painful or dangerous, they would willingly have undertaken it for the pleasure alone of doing it. War was their passion, and pity for the vanquished had never troubled their pleasure.

Never, therefore, had the cross been taken up with a more unanimous consent. The first to engage in this war, were Eudes the Third, Duke of Burgundy, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, the Counts of Nevers, of St. Paul, of Auxerre, of Genève, and of Forez. While the abbot of Citeaux, and all the convents of the Bernardin order, were distinguishing themselves in preaching the war of extermination, and promising to those who should perish therein, plenary absolution of all the sins which they had committed from the hour of their birth, to the hour of their death, Innocent charged a new congregation, at the head of which he placed the Spaniard, St. Dominic, to go on foot, two by two, through the villages, to preach the Romish faith among them, to enlighten them by controversial discussions, to display to them all the zeal of Christian charity, and to obtain from their confidence exact information of the

number and the dwelling-places of those who had wandered from the church," in order to burn them when the opportunity should arrive." It was thus that the order of the preaching brethren of St. Dominic, or of the Inquisitors, began.

The Crusaders were not ready to march in 1208, but their "immense preparations resounded through out Europe, and filled Languedoc with terror." The countries destined more especially to vengeance, as being particularly the seats of "heresy," were the states of Count Raymond of Toulouse, and those of his nephew, Raymond Roger, Viscount of Alby, Béziers, Carcassonne, and Limoux, in Rasez. The first was mild, feeble, and timid, desirous, indeed, of saving his subjects from confiscations and punishments, but still more desirous of saving himself from persecution. The latter, on the contrary, in the full vigour of youth, was generous, lofty, and impetuous; his states had been governed during a minority of ten years, by guardians inclined to the new doctrines. Count Raymond hastened to make his submission upon terms the most degrading, and the Pope then gave him hope of absolution, and promised him, moreover, his entire favour. But Innocent was far from having pardoned Raymond in the bottom of his heart. For, at this same period, he wrote thus to the Abbot of Citeaux :

We counsel you, with the Apostle Paul, to employ guile with regard to this count, for in this case it ought to be called prudence. We must attack, separately, those who are separated from unity; leave for a time the Count of Toulouse, employing towards him a wide dissimulation,

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The smallest estimate of the number of the Crusaders is fifty thousand, exclusive of the ignorant and fanatical multitude which followed each preacher, armed with scythes and clubs, and promised to themselves, that "if they were not in a condition to combat the knights of Languedoc, they might at least be able to murder the women and children of the heretics." When Count Raymond heard, that in spite of his reconciliation with the Pope, these fanatics were directed towards his states, he hastened to represent to the Pope, that the legate Arnold, who conducted them, was his personal enemy, and "it would be unjust," said he, " to profit by my submission, to deliver me to the mercy of a man who would listen only to his resentment against me." To take from the Count of Toulouse, in appearance, this motive for complaint, Innocent the Third named a new legate, who was his notary or secretary; but far from endeavouring by this means to restrain the hatred of the Abbot of Citeaux, his only aim was to deceive Raymond; "for the lord Pope expressly said to this new legate, Let the Abbot of Citeaux do everything, and be thou only his organ; for, in fact, the Count of Toulouse has suspicions concerning artifice of Innocent, as recorded by a contemporary him, whilst he does not suspect thee." Such was the writer, who dedicated his history of the Albigenses

to that Pope himself.

Raymond Roger, the Viscount of Béziers, after another attempt to make his peace with the Pope, and after being told by the legate, that " what he had to do was to defend himself the best that he could, for he should show him no mercy," made preparations for a vigorous defence, resting his hopes chiefly upon his two great cities, Béziers and Carcassonne, and dividing between them his most valiant knights. He himself, took up his position in the latter, after having visited Béziers, and ascertained that it was well provided with the necessary articles. It was in the month of July that the Crusaders, after plundering and burning several castles, were united under the walls of Béziers. They had been preceded by Reginald of Montpeyroux, Bishop of Béziers, who, after having visited the legate, and delivered to him a list of those, amongst his flock, whom he suspected of heresy, and whom he wished to see consigned to the flames, returned to his parishioners, to represent the dangers to which they were exposed, and to exhort them to surrender their fellow-citizens to the

themselves, and upon their wives and children, the avengers of the faith," rather than to draw upon wrath of heaven and the church. "Tell the legate," replied the citizens, whom he had assembled in the cathedral of St. Nicaise, "that our city is good and strong, that our Lord will not fail to succour us in the baseness demanded of us, we would eat our own our great necessities, and that, rather than commit children." Nevertheless, it is said, that there was no heart so bold as not to tremble, when the Crusaders were encamped under their walls; "and so great was the assemblage, both of tents and pavilions, that it appeared as if all the world was collected there; at which those of the city began to be greatly asto

wares.

No. II.

FAITH AND CREDULITY.

nished, for they thought they were only fables, what | EASY LESSONS ON CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES. their bishop had come to tell them, and advise them." But though astonished, the citizens of Béziers were not discouraged; and while the enemies were yet tracing a camp, they sallied and attacked them una"But the Crusaders were still more terrible compared with the inhabitants of the South, by their fanaticism and boldness, than by their numbers." The infantry alone repulsed the citizens; and at the same time, the whole army of the besiegers, precipitating themselves upon them as they retreated, pursued them so eagerly and so closely as to enter the gates with them, and thus found themselves masters of the city before they had ever formed their plan of attack. The knights, learning that they had triumphed without fighting, inquired of the legate Arnold, the Abbot of Citeaux, how they should distinguish the Catholics from the heretics,-whereupon he made them this "much celebrated reply,"-Kill them all-the Lord will know well those who are his !

The fixed population of Béziers, at this period, did not exceed, probably, 15,000 persons; but it had been largely increased by the influx of the inhabitants of the open country, and the places incapable of defence.

This whole multitude, at the moment when the Crusaders became masters of the gates, took refuge in the churches; the great cathedral of St. Nicaise contained the largest number; the canons, clothed with their choral habits, surrounded the altar, and sounded the bells, as it to express their prayers to the furious assailants; but these supplications of brass were as little heard as those of the human voice. The bells ceased not to sound, till, of that immense multitude, which had taken refuge in the church, the last had been massacred. Neither were those spared who had sought an asylum in the other churches; seven thousand dead bodies were counted in that of the Magdalen alone. When the Crusaders had massacred the last living creature in Béziers, and had pillaged the houses of all that they thought worth carrying off, they set fire to the city in every part at once, and reduced it to a vast funeral pile. Not a house remained standing, not one human being alive. Historians differ as to the number of victims. The Abbot of Citeaux, feeling some shame for the butchery which he had ordered, reduces it, in his letter to Innocent the Third, to fifteen thousand; others make it amount to sixty thou

sand.

MONTGOLFIER AND THE BALLOON.

THE celebrated Montgolfier, inventor of the Balloon, had frequent intercourse with the printers of Avignon for publishing his papers. The widow Guichard, one of these printers, with whom he often lodged during his stay at Avignon, having one day observed a thick smoke issuing from his room, had the curiosity to go in, and was much surprised to see Montgolfier gravely employed in filling a shapeless paper bag, by means of the smoke from a chafingdish. The physician seemed thwarted by the balloon, when filled with smoke, rising one moment, and then awkwardly falling on one side the next; thus he was obliged, with one hand, to hold the balloon in the position which he thought most facilitated the entrance of the smoke, while with the other he threw wet straw on the chafing-dish; for it is known, that at first the raising the balloon was ascribed to the smoke and not to the hot air with which it was filled. The widow Guichard, smiling at his distress, said with simplicity: "Eh! why don't you fasten the balloon to the chafing-dish?" This exclamation was like a ray of light to Montgolfier; in fact, the secret lay there,-it was only necessary to fasten the chafing-dish to the balloon.FROS

SARD'S Tableaux de Nismes.

THE time which passes over our heads so imperceptibly makes the same gradual change in habits, manners, and character, as in personal appearance. At the revolution of every five years, we find ourselves another, and yet the same-there is a change of views, and no less of the light in which we regard them; a change of motives as well as of actions.-SIR WALTER SCOTT.

OUR forefathers, and the other Pagans who embraced the Gospel, must have had some strong reasons (as was remarked before,) to bring them to shake off their habits of life, and their early prejudices, and their veneration for the gods they had been brought up to worship, for the sake of Christ and his religion, which were new to them. But perhaps you may suppose that their ancient religions also must have been embraced by their forefathers in the same manner; i. e., that the worship of the Sun, and Moon, and Jupiter, and the rest of their gods, must have been first brought in by strong proofs,-at least by what were thought to be strong proofs. But this does not appear to have been the case. We have no accounts of the first origin of the Pagan religions; and it is likely that no one of them was ever brought in all at once, but that these various superstitions crept in by little and little, and religion became gradually corrupted, as men lost more and more that knowledge of the one true God, which we suppose to have been originally revealed. This, at least, is certain, that it was not even pretended that these religions rested on any evidence worth listening to. A Pagan's reason for holding his religion, is and always was, that it had been handed down from his ancestors. They did, indeed, relate many miracles, said to have been wrought through their gods; but almost all of these they spoke of as having been wrought among people who were already worshippers of those gods; not as having been the means of originally bringing in the religion. And all the Pagan miracles they believed, merely because they were a part of the religion which they had learned from their fathers. They never even pretended to give any proof that these miracles had ever been performed.

The Christian religion was distinguished from these (as has been said,) by its resting on evidence; by its offering a reason, and requiring Christians to be able to give a reason, for believing it.

Some persons, however, have a notion that it is presumptuous for a Christian, at least for an unlearned Christian, to seek any proof of the truth of his religion. They suppose that this would show a want of faith. They know that faith is often and highly commended in Scripture, as the Christian's first duty; and they fancy that this faith consists in a person's readily and firmly believing what is told him, and trusting in every promise that is made to him; and that the less reason he has for believing and for trusting, and the less he doubts, and inquires, and seeks for grounds for his belief and his confidence, the more faith he shows.

But this is quite a mistake. The faith which the Christian Scriptures speak of and commend, is the very contrary of that blind sort of belief and trust which does not rest on any good reason. This last is more properly called credulity than faith. When a man believes without evidence, or against evidence, he is what we rightly call credulous; but he is never commended for this; on the contrary, we often find in Scripture mention made of persons who are reproached for their unbelief or want of faith, precisely on account of their showing this kind of credulity; that is, not judging fairly according to the evidence, but resolving to believe only what was agreeable to their prejudices, and to trust any one who flattered those prejudices.

This was the case with those of the ancient

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heathen, who refused to forsake the worship of the Sun and Moon, and of Jupiter and Diana, and their other gods. Many of the Ephesians, as you read in the Book of Acts, raised a tumult against Paul in their zeal for their "goddess Diana, and the image which fell down from Jupiter*.' Now if a man's faith is to be reckoned the greater, the less evidence he has for believing, these men must have had greater faith than any one who received the Gospel, because they believed in their religion without any evidence at all. But what our sacred writers mean by faith is quite different from this. When they commend a man's faith, it is because he listens fairly to evidence, and judges according to the reasons laid before him. The difficulty and the virtue of faith consists in a man's believing and trusting not against evidence, but against his expectations and prejudices, against his inclinations, and passions, and interests. We read accordingly, that Jesus offered sufficient proof of his coming from God;-he said, the works (i. e., the miracles,) that I do in my Father's name, (i. e., by my Father's authority,) they bear witness of me. If you believe not me, believe the works: that is, if you have not the heart to feel the purity and holiness of what I teach, at least you should allow, that "no man can do such miracles except God be with him." But we are told, that "for all he had done so many miracles among them, yet did they not believe on Him." They acknowledged that He wrought miracles, as the unbelieving Jews acknowledge at the present day. But they had expected, that the Christ [or Messiah] whom they looked for, should come in great worldly power and splendour, as a conquering prince, who should deliver them from the dominion of the Romans, and should make Jerusalem the capital of a magnificent empire. They were disappointed and disgusted, ("offended" is the word used in our translations,) at finding Jesus coming from Nazareth, a despised town in Galilee, and having no worldly pomp or pretensions about Him, and having only poor fishermen and peasants as his attendants. Accordingly they rejected Him, saying, "shall [the] Christ come out of Nazareth." "As for this man we know not whence he is." "Out

of Galilee arises no prophet." And they persuaded themselves, (as their descendants do to this day,) that Jesus was a skilful magician, and performed miracles, not by Divine power, but by the help of some evil spirits, or demons, with whom he had allied Himself. Though he went about doing good, healing the sick and afflicted, and teaching the purest morality, they reckoned him a "deceiver," who "cast out demons, through Beelzebub, the prince of the demons."

But if he had come among them offering to fulfil their expectations, and undertaking to deliver their country from the Romans, then, even though he had shown no miraculous power, many of them would have received him readily. And, indeed, it is recorded of Him, that He declared this Himself, and foretold to his disciples, "many will come in my name," (that is, taking on them my character,) "saying I am [the] Christ, and will deceive many." And, again, "I am come in my Father's name," (that is, with my Father's authority and power,)" and you receive me not; if another shall come in his own name," (that is, requiring to be believed on his bare word, without any miraculous signs,) "him ye will receive."

sperate resistance to the Romans; till at length the city was taken, and the nation utterly overthrown. Now the Jews who believed any one of these impostors, were led to do so by their prejudices, and expectations, and wishes; not by any proof that was offered. They showed, therefore, more credulity than the Christians did. And these unbelieving Jews, as they are called, are the very persons who were reproached for their want of faith. You may plainly see from this, that the faith which the Christian writers speak of, is not blind credulity, but fairness in listening to evidence, and judging accordingly, without being led away by prejudices and inclinations.

Moreover, we find in the book of Acts that the 66 more Jews of Berea were commended as being noble," (that is, more candid,) than those of Thessalonica, "because they searched the Scriptures," (the books of the Old Testament,) to see whether those things were so, "which the Apostle taught."

It is plain, therefore, that Jesus and his Apostles did not mean by Christian faith a blind assent without any reason. And if we would be taught by them, we must be " prepared to answer every one that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us."

THE SEPS*.

THE links which we remark in the scale of living creatures, and which make the observer pass, unconsciously, from one class of beings to another, from man with his lofty brow, to the lichen clinging to the rock, of which it seems to form a part, are facts calculated to penetrate us with admiration for the Creator's works, and which quite set aside all our artificial classifications. We here present an account, accompanied by a figure, of a singular reptile, which forms the link that unites the family of the crocodiles to that of the boa-serpent, the lizard of the plains with the snake of the marshes. The Seps is no longer considered to be a lizard, neither is it quite a serpent. Its lengthened body gives, at first sight, a striking resemblance to the Blind-worm, but on closer examination, we discover with astonishment, two pair of such very short paws, that they cannot possibly reach the ground.

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This animal belongs to the family of the Scincoides, which are all distinguished by the extreme smallness of their members, and of which some species present very remarkable peculiarities. We remark that some Seps are only provided with one toe on each foot; the bipeds possess only one pair of paws, situated at the And so it came to pass: for in the last siege of hinder part of their body; the foremost paws only Jerusalem many impostors came forward, each one ear claiming to be the Christ, and drawing multitudes to

Acts xix. 35.

are observable in the bimanus.

The species represented above is the only one which. This word, which comes from a Greek word, signifying to corrupt, was used by the ancients to designate an animal, which some considered a lizard and others a serpent.

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