The story of our Christianity; an account of the struggles, persecutions, wars, and victories of Christians of all times . re obliged ^to admit toholy orderswhoever waswilling to as-sume wholeland, under acurse, pro-duced nothing but thorns and thistles, ravishers and bandits, robbers, and murderers. But itis true that brigands roved about in numbers and bestowed much ill usage onpriests and monasteries. Another champion of Rome complains that the doc-trines of the Cathari had infected a thousand cities, and were in a way tocorrupt all Europe if they had not been put down by force. A
The story of our Christianity; an account of the struggles, persecutions, wars, and victories of Christians of all times . re obliged ^to admit toholy orderswhoever waswilling to as-sume wholeland, under acurse, pro-duced nothing but thorns and thistles, ravishers and bandits, robbers, and murderers. But itis true that brigands roved about in numbers and bestowed much ill usage onpriests and monasteries. Another champion of Rome complains that the doc-trines of the Cathari had infected a thousand cities, and were in a way tocorrupt all Europe if they had not been put down by force. A third assertsthat in Lombardy, Provence, and other regions there were more schools of thisnew religion than of the mother Church, with more scholars ; that they preachedin the market-places, the fields, the houses ; and that there were none who daredto interfere with them, owing to the multitude and power of their had schools for both sexes; they drew recruits from the ranks of theirenemies. In one case all the nuns of a convent embraced Catharism withoutquitting the house or the habit of their PERSECUTION OF ALBIGENSES. 2o8 THE STORY OF OUR CHRISTIANITY. RAYMOND OF TOULOUSE. The counts of Provence were practically independent sovereigns, and theircourt was considered the most refined and splendid in Europe. Thither resortedthe troubadours, whose language, still spoken in that corner of France, is famousfor its poetry. The land was rich, full of flowers, fanned by warm southernbreezes ; its capital was the home of art, of elegant literature, of graceful luxury. — This charming cli-| mate and these lightaccomplishmentsfitted ill with theearth-hating asceti-cism of the severereligionists who hadgathered there ; andCount Raymond the last man tolead a brave andresolute peopleagainst their invad-ers. Their loyaltyto him was seldomjustified by any actof his. Easy, care-less, selfish, vacillat-
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectchurchhistory, bookye
