ce, the
grave were falling into heresy. [Sidenote: Commencing resistance of
Rome.] But, true to her instincts and traditions, the Church had shown
her determination to deal rigorously with all such movements. Already,
A.D. 1134, Peter de Brueys had been burned in Languedoc for denying
infant baptism, the worship of the cross, and transubstantiation.
Already Henry the Deacon, the disciple of Peter, had been disposed of by
St. Bernard. Already the valleys of Piedmont were full of Waldenses.
Already the Poor Men of Lyons were proclaiming the portentous doctrine
that the sanctity of a priest lay not in his office, but in the manner
of his life. They denounced the wealth of the Church, and the
intermingling of bishops in bloodshed and war; they denied
transubstantiation, invocation of saints, purgatory, and especially
directed their hatred against the sale of indulgences for sin. The rich
cities of Languedoc were full of misbelievers. They were given up to
poetry, music, dancing. Their people, numbers of whom had been in the
Crusades or in Spain, had seen the Saracens. Admiration had taken the
place of detestation. Amid shouts of laughter, the Troubadours went
through the land, wagging their heads, and slyly winking their eyes, and
singing derisive songs about the amours of the priests, and amply
earning denunciations as lewd blasphemers and atheists. [Sidenote:
Innocent III. alarmed at the spread of heresy.] Here was a state of
things demanding the attention of Innocent. The methods he took for its
correction have handed his name down to the maledictions of posterity.
He despatched a missive to the Count of Toulouse--who already lay under
excommunication for alleged intermeddling with the rights of the
clergy--charging him with harbouring heretics and giving offices of
emolument to Jews. The count was a man of gay life, having, in emulation
of some of his neighbours across the Pyrenees, not fewer than three
wives. His offences of that kind were, however, eclipsed by those with
which he was now formally charged. It chanced that, in the ensuing
disputes, the pope's legate was murdered. There is no reason to believe
that Raymond was concerned in the crime. [Sidenote: He proclaims a
crusade against the Count of Toulouse,] But the indignant pope held him
responsible; instantly ordered to be published in all directions his
excommunication, and called upon Western Christendom to engage in a
crusade against him, offering, to him who