Albia
a city of Iowa, the countyseat of Monroe co., about 70 miles S. E. of Des Moines. It is on the Chicago, the Chicago , Burlington and Quincy, the Minneapolis and St. Louis, the Wabash, and the Southern Iowa Traction Company railroads. The city has a large coal industry and is the center of an extensive coal mining community. There are also important agricultural industries. The ALBION a telephone factory. Pop. (1910) 4,969; (1920) 5,067.
ALBIGENSES (al-be-zhans' or al-bejen'sēz), the name commonly given to a Christian sect, or to several sects, which arose in the south of France; suppressed early in the 13th century on account of alleged heresies. Their name may have been derived from the town of Albiga or Albi, where their doctrines had many followers. In their belief were included some of the Manichæan tenets, such as the repudiation of the Old Testament and the dualistic philosophy of the evil of matter and the emanation of spirit .
The growth of the sect and the spread of their heresies brought them in conflict with the Catholic authorities , who waged against them a policy of extermination. They were condemned at various councils, and in 1198 Innocent III. endeavored to extirpate them by sending several legates to Toulouse as inquisitors. He excommunicated Count Raymond of Toulouse (1207), who consistently protected the Albigenses. The murder of the Legate Peter of Castelnau, in 1209, gave the Pope occasion for employing severer means. He proclaimed a crusade for the abolition of the sect. The war against the Albigenses was waged zealously, and many were sacrificed who had no connection with them. After a peace concluded in 1229 between Raymond VII. and the Pope, they were left without protection, and the Inquisition completed their destruction.