Book description
In twelfth century Languedoc a subversive heresy of Eastern origin
flourished to an extraordinary degree. The Albingenses believed that
the world was created by an evil spirit, and that all worldly things -
including the Church - were by nature sinful. Jonathan Sumption's
acclaimed history examines the roots of the heresy, the uniquely rich
culture of the region which nurtured it, and the crusade launched
against it by the Church which resulted in one of the most savage of
all medieval wars.
Jonathan Sumption is a former History Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford, and a practising QC. He is the author of Pilgrimage and The
Albigensian Crusade, as well as the first three volumes in his
celebrated history of the Hundred Years War - Trial by Battle, Trial by
Fire and Divided Houses. He was awarded the 2009 Wolfson History Prize
for Divided Houses.
