160 Cathars
EMPIREthat would become Catalonia or the Spanish March
in 901. However, the Carolingian kings of West Francia
soon lost control. In 878, Louis II the Stammerer (d. 879)
appointed a count, Wilfred 1 (870–897), to hold most of
the Catalan counties. By the end of the 10th century,
links with the king of FRANCEwere gone.
EXPANSIONFrom the 1060s, Ramon Berenguer I (r. 1035–76) the
Elder of BARCELONAand his wife, Almodis de la Marche,
subdued the old aristocracy. The counts of Barcelona con-
tinued territorial expansion under Raymond Berenguer
III (1093–1131). He annexed the counties of Besalú in
1111, PROVENCEin 1112, and Cerdagne in 1117. By his
marriage with Petronilla the heiress of ARAGON, he linked
his principality with hers, thereby obtaining a royal title
for his decendants.
King JAMESI THECONQUEROR(1213–76) by the treaty
of Corbeil with LOUISIX in 1258 renounced his rights
over LANGUEDOCin southern France for legal exemption
from the sovereignty of the kings of France. He went on to
conquer the BALEARICIslands (1229–35) and the kingdom
of VALENCIAin 1238. In the 14th century, his successors
successfully expanded their domains in the Mediter-
ranean, intervening in the War of the Vespers. SARDINIA,
SICILY, and the duchies of ATHENSand Neopatras came
under their rule. BARCELONAand the other port towns of
this realm or confederation enjoyed immense economic
growth and prosperity in the early 14th century.
DECLINEThe 15th century was an era of a decline for Catalonia.
The pursuit of glory through Mediterranean imperialism
under King ALFONSO V THE MAGNANIMOUS attached
NAPLES to this confederation. However, human and
financial resources of the Catalan population were rav-
aged by FAMINE and epidemics. During a civil war
between the Crown and nobles, the oppressed peasants
of Catalonia revolted and obtained much better condi-
tions through the Sentencia Arbitral de Guadalupe,
granted in 1486 by FERDINANDII the Catholic. He also
united the Catalan-Aragonese confederation with
CASTILEby his marriage to Queen ISABELI. In cultural
and literary terms, the Catalan chivalric romance
reached a peak with Tirant to Blancby Joanot Martorell
(1413–68). By the late 15th century Castile, strength-
ened by demographic recovery, took over the leadership
of Iberia from a weakened Aragon and Catalonia.
Further reading:Donald J. Kagay, trans., The Usa-
tages of Barcelona: The Fundamental Law of Catalonia
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994);
Archibald R. Lewis, The Development of Southern French
and Catalan Society(Austin: University of Texas Press,
1965); Thomas N. Bisson, Tormented Voices: Power, Crisis,
and Humanity in Rural Catalonia, 1140–1200(Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998).
Cathars (Cathari, the Pure)From the 10th century
there appeared to have been a number of heretical com-
munities with certain common characteristics, called
ALBIGENSIANSin southern France and Cathars there and
elsewhere. They always called themselves merely Chris-
tians in the west and BOGOMILSin the Balkans. They
seemed to have a dualist view of the world and creation,
and they rejected basic Christian ideas about GOD,
Christology, the Incarnation, and salvation. The physical
world could not have been created by an all-good god,
similar to the DEVIL, but must have been added afterward
by some evil force or being. They saw no need for the
institutions of the church, its clergy, or its practices,
such as the sacraments. They saw no need for human
reproduction since it merely introduced evil matter
into the world. They were divided into believers and the
perfected ones or perfecti,who had taken the Cathar
sacrament of absolution or the consolamentum,which
everyone was to take before he or she died. The per-
fected ones were supposed to live extremely ascetic lives
after taking that sacrament. People who were perceived
to believe in these ideas were discovered in southern
France and in parts of Italy by the INQUISITION.
See alsoBULGARIA ANDBULGARS;DUALISM;DOMINI-
CAN ORDER;INQUISITION;MANICHAEISM ANDMANI;MEN-
DICANT ORDERS.
Further reading:William L. Wakefield and Austin P.
Evans, eds., Heresies of the High Middle Ages(New York:
Columbia University Press, 1969); Michael Costen, The
Cathars and the Albigensian Crusade(Manchester: Manch-
ester University Press, 1997); Malcolm Lambert, The
Cathars (New York: Blackwell, 1998); Carol Lansing,
Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy(Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1998).cathedrals They were churches that contained a
bishop’s cathedra or throne. In the Middle Ages, the
cathedral was the main church of a DIOCESEof an arch-
bishop or bishop. The bishops usually lived nearby. Each
diocese contained only one central church or cathedral.
During the early Middle Ages, cathedrals were often dedi-
cated to the saint who had founded the Christian church
in the diocese, or to a famous Christian martyr. By the
year 1000, with the growth of the cult of the Virgin MARY,
many cathedrals changed their original dedication to that
of Mary, the Madonna, the Virgin, or Notre-Dame (Our
Lady), including among the chapels one dedicated to the
saint founder of the church. Many became the great mon-
uments of ROMANESQUEand GOTHICarchitecture, were
built over decades, and still exist.ADMINISTRATION
With the development of the economy, communities of
canons, and episcopal households and the growth of
political duties of the bishops in the eighth and ninth