"Simony (the buying and selling of ecclesiastical privileges), nepotism (the appointment of relatives to positions of power), and the Nicolaitan system (the inheritance of church offices) were gnawing at Rome and its civil, military, and religious satellites. The powerful hoarded food while the peasantry faced fruitless harvests caused by massive floods and a sudden drop in temperatures. Roads were filled with wandering, starving crowds, and bandits terrorized those who had nothing left."
"Saladin captured Jerusalem, the Crusaders returned defeated, and the kings of Castile and Aragon suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Alarcos. God had abandoned his flock, it was thought. Faced with this situation, an irate spiritual and political movement, born in the most wretched strata of society, emerged with overwhelming force in the heart of the Continent. Its members were known as heretics, of whom the Cathars would become the greatest and most powerful exponent."
"the Church for it was a Church of Catharism advocated a return to the original values of the Gospel. It took such deep root among the dispossessed that it could only be eradicated through the use of terror and the murder of tens of thousands of innocents. Burned alive or pierced by spears, Cathars, Waldensians, and Hussites resisted beyond all comprehension, giving rise to the worst of repressions."
About eight centuries ago Europe experienced a profound crisis combining ecclesiastical corruption, climatic failure, war, and social breakdown. Simony, nepotism, and the Nicolaitan inheritance of church offices undermined Rome and its civil, military, and religious satellites. Massive floods and sudden cooling ruined harvests while elites hoarded food, producing wandering starving crowds and bands of brigands. Military defeats, including Saladin's capture of Jerusalem and the Crusader setbacks culminating at Alarcos, intensified despair. From the poorest strata emerged a lay spiritual movement labeled heretical, with Catharism advocating a return to original Gospel values. The movement spread deep among dispossessed populations and provoked genocidal repression, including burnings, spearings, and the rise of inquisitorial mechanisms.
Read at english.elpais.com
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