The system of government was a theocracy which encouraged the mortification of the flesh, celebrated death and depopulated most of occitania. Marriage was considered immoral. Weaving cloth was promoted as the highest form of existence and the material culture (think farming, manufacturing, and craftsmanship) was considered part of the "bad" side of life.
The cathars worshiped a duality that mortified the physical body as evil and elevated the spiritual principles to the extent that monastic life was the pinnacle of human existence. The family was considered just plain wrong. Children were left to die and were seen as manifestations of the evil of the physical world.
It was generally considered by the rest of the european western world that the several hundred years of Cathar culture had resulted in a kernel of insanity that could destroy Christianity.
The Cathar culture was developed over several hundred years, under the nose of the catholic church and is believed to have been imported from Malta - home of the Knights Templar who also had found their way into a deviant Christian culture. (They could afford the lifestyle)
Even Raymond of Toulouse, when by the pope asked to intervene and militarily take over the province declined the first time he was asked on the grounds that it wasn't his fight and why should he spend money doing work that wasn't going to enrich him?
Eventually he went into the Cathar region and slaughtered every man woman and child on the premise that 'God will know his own' or 'kill them all, god will sort them out. Cathar culture could not be stopped otherwise.
The Cathar church had become very rich and their monasteries were loaded with booty by the time Raymond made his move. He was the only local noble willing and able to 'take back' occitania for western civilization.
The 'Islamic revolution' and spread of anti-christian culture has nothing on the Cathar civilization. The extent of the depopulation of the area is still felt today. Southeastern france is a curiosity. French tourists bus around Languedoc and visit historical sites like we go to civil war re-enactments.
There is nothing in western culture remotely close to the Cathar culture for us to see and experience in order to understand why they were a 'heresy'. But the facts speak for themselves and the Cathar world was a cancer that was metastasizing itself on the body of western tradition.
***There is nothing in western culture remotely close to the Cathar culture for us to see and experience in order to understand why they were a ‘heresy’. But the facts speak for themselves and the Cathar world was a cancer that was metastasizing itself on the body of western tradition.***
A good and accurate summary.