Albigenses
A sect which originated in the south of France so late as 1653. in the twelfth century. They were so called from one of their territorial centres, that of Albi. It is probable that their heresy came originally from Eastern Europe, and they were often designated Bulgarians, and undoubtedly kept up intercourse with certain secretaries of Thrace, the Bogomils; and they are sometimes connected with the Paulicians. It is difficult to form any exact idea of their doctrines, as Albigensian. texts are rare, and contain little concerning their ethics, but we know that they were strongly opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, and protested against the corruption of its clergy. But it is not as a religious body that we have to deal with the Albigenses here, but to consider whether or not their cult possessed any occult significance. It has been claimed by their opponents that they admitted two fundamental principles , good and bad, saying that God had produced Lucifer from Himself; that indeed Lucifer was the son of God who revolted against Him; that he had carried with him a rebellious party of angels, who were driven from Heaven along with him; that Lucifer in his exile had created this world with its inhabitants, where he reigned, and where all was evil. It is alleged that they further produced a second son, who was Jesus Christ. Furtherbelieved that God for the re-establishment of order had more the Catholic writers on the Albigenses charged them in mortal bodies in punishment of their crimes. with believing that the souls of men were demons lodged All this is, of course, mere tradition, and we may be sure that the dislike of the Albigenses for the irregularities then current in the Roman Church, brought such charges on their heads. They were indeed the lineal ancestors of Protestantism . A crusade was brought against them by Pope Innocent III., and wholesale massacres took place.
The Inquisition was also let loose upon them, and they were driven to hide in the forests and among the mountains, where , like the Covenanters of Scotland, they held surreptitious meetings. The Inquisition terrorised the district in which they had dwelt so thoroughly that the very name of Albigenses was practically blotted out, and by the year 1330, the records of the Holy Office show no further writs