ory cannot be accepted as
authentic. But the period of decadence had begun. By the close of the
twelfth century the golden age of troubadour poetry was over. Guiraut de
Bornelh's complaints that refinement was vanishing and that nobles were
growing hard-hearted and avaricious soon became common-places in
troubadour poetry. The extravagances of the previous age and the rise of
a strong middle and commercial class diminished both the wealth and the
influence of the nobles, while the peace of the country was further
disturbed by theological disputes and by the rise of the Albigeois
heresy.

CHAPTER VI [75]

THE ALBIGEOIS CRUSADE

The feudal society in which troubadour poetry had flourished, and by
which alone it could be maintained, was already showing signs of
decadence. Its downfall was precipitated by the religious and political
movement, the Albigeois Crusade, which was the first step towards the
unification of France, but which also broke up the local fiefs,
destroyed the conditions under which the troubadours had flourished and
scattered them abroad in other lands or forced them to seek other means
of livelihood. This is not the place to discuss the origin and the
nature of the Albigeois heresy.[26] The general opinion has almost
invariably considered the heretics as dualists and their belief as a
variation of Manicheism: but a plausible case has been made out for
regarding the heresy as a variant of the Adoptionism which is found
successively in Armenia, in the Balkan peninsula and in Spain, and
perhaps sporadically in Italy and Germany. Whatever its real nature was,
the following facts are clear: it was not an isolated movement, but was
in continuity with beliefs prevalent in many other parts of Europe. It [76]
was largely a poor man's heresy and therefore emerges into the light of
history only when it happens to attract aristocratic adherents or large
masses of people. It was also a pre-Reformation movement and essentially
in opposition to Roman Catholicism. Albi was the first head-quarters of
the heresy, though Toulouse speedily rivalled its importance in this
respect. The Vaudois heresy which became notorious at Lyons about the
same time was a schismatic, not a heretic movement. The Vaudois objected
to the profligacy and worldliness of the Roman Catholic clergy, but did
not quarrel with church doctrine. The Albigenses were no less zealous