violent scene, having met Castelnau, or the 15th of January, 1208, at the side of the Rhone, entered into a dispute with him respecting heresy and its punishments. Castelnau answered him in language so menacing and insulting, that, already irritated by the quarrel with his lord, and now feeling himself personally offended, stabbed him with his poignard, and fled from the country.

The intelligence of this assassination filled Innocent with the most ungovernable rage; and though Raymond protested his own innocence, and even exerted himself to the utmost to apprehend the assassin, yet his Holiness. immediately published a bull, in which he declared that it was the devil who had instigated his principal minister, Raymond, count of Toulouse, against the legate of the Holy see. He laid under an interdict all the places which should afford a refuge to the murderers of Castelnau; he demanded that the count should be publicly anathematized in all the churches: And as," he added, "following the canonical sanctions of the holy fathers, that we must not observe faith towards those who keep not faith towards God, or who are separated from the communion of the faithful, we discharge, by apostolic authority, all those who believe themselves bound towards this count, by any oath, either of alliance or of fidelity; we permit every catholic man, to

pursue his person, to оссиру and retain his territories, especially for the purpose of exterminating heresy."

Raymond, naturally mild and timid, was exceedingly desirous of saving himself and his subjects from the fury of their enemies; and, taking along with him his nephew, Ray. mond Roger, he went to Arnold, Abbot of Citeaux, whom the Pope had made leader of the crusade, in order if possible to avert the threatened storm. Arnold received them in a most haughty manner, and after carelessly listening to their protestations of innocence, and their petition to be heard before they were condemned, he told them, that if they wished to obtain any mercy, they must address themselves to the Pope. Raymond Roger immediately perceived there was no alternative but to arm themselves in their own defence; but his uncle, petrified with terror, offered to submit to any conditions, rather than draw the crusaders into his states. He accordingly agreed to make common cause with that fanatical army in their efforts to exterminate the heretics, to surrender to them seven of his castles as a pledge of his sincerity, and to submit to whatever judgment the legate should be pleased to pronounce upon him. After making these concession, he was conducted into the church of St. Giles, with a cord about his neck, and his shoulders

naked, and there severely scourged with a whip; and then, as a matter of favour, he was allowed to take the cross against the heretics.

Raymond Roger, on the other hand, was more bold and determined, and instead of yielding an implicit obedience to the orders of the court of Rome, he retired into his states, and immediately commenced preparations for resisting the attacks of his enemies. His uncle Raymond VI. who had been compelled to agree to lead the army of the crusaders against him, was so overwhelmed with grief at this part of the stipulation with the legate, that he solicited leave to take a journey to Rome, for the purpose of humbling himself before the sovereign Pontiff. This request could not be denied; and the count left the army, choosing any degradation which might be put on himself, rather than continue with it, to be a spectator of the murder of thousands of peaceable and virtuous men, and the ruin of his own nephew."

In the meantime, the Popish army, consisting of upwards of a hundred thousand men, entered the territories of Raymond Roger, attacked the Albigenses, took possession of their towns, filled the streets with slaughter and blood, and precipitated multitudes of both sexes, whom they had taken prisoners, into the flames. But Raymond Roger had chiefly

calculated on the defence of his two great cities, Beziers and Carcassone; and having made provision in the former of these cities for repelling the attacks of the enemy, he took up his residence in the latter. When the crusaders arrived in the neighbourhood of Beziers, about the middle of July 1209, the fate of that city was easily foreseen. Sensible of the danger of his people, and grieved for the calamities which were ready to fall upon them, Raymond Roger hastened to the legate, and throwing himself at his feet, earnestly supplicated that the city might be spared, or at least that the innocent might not suffer indiscriminately with the guilty. To which the legate replied, that he must defend himself in the best way he could, for he should show him no mercy.

Finding the legate inflexible, the young viscount informed the inhabitants of his ill success, and of the only conditions upon which pardon could be obtained, namely, that all the Albigenses should either abjure their religion, or that they should be delivered into the hands of the popish army. To the first of these proposals only, the Roman catholic inhabitants of Beziers lent an ear, and used every entreaty with the Albigenses to induce them to submit to the religion of Rome. The latter, however, replied, "That they never could consent to purchase a

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prolongation of the present perishing life, at the price of renouncing their faith; that they were fully persuaded God could, pleased, protect and defend them; but they were as fully persuaded, that if it were his good pleasure to be glorified by the confession of their faith, it would be a high honour conferred upon them to lay down their lives for righteousness' sake; that they preferred displeasing the Pope, who could only kill their bodies, much more to incurring the displeasure of God, who could destroy both soul and body at once; that they hoped never to be ashamed of, nor forsake a faith by which they had been taught the knowledge of Christ and his righteousness, nor at the hazard of eternal death, barter it for a religion which annihilated the merits of the Saviour, and rendered his righteousness of none effect. They therefore left it to the Roman catholics and the Viscount to make the best terms they could for themselves, but entreated that they would not promise any thing in their behalf inconsistent with their duty as Christians."

The Roman catholic inhabitants next had recourse to the legate, representing their uniform attachment to the Romish faith; but that sanguinary ecclesiastic declared with an oath, that unless every individual within the walls of Beziers acknowledged his guilt, and submitted to the judgment of the Holy see,