FIELD OF THE BURNED

In 1208 Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the Languedoc region of Southern France, stronghold of the heretical Cathar Christian sect. He declared all lands belonging to Cathars or their noble allies now belonged to the church.

He would grant those lands to all French nobles from the north willing to engage their armies against the heretics and their supporters. Comte Renard Lamoureu of Montauban and his son Young Renard, age ten, dispossessed by the armies of the Pope and French King, organized a band of rebels. A homeless girl Yvette Gales, having escaped the slaughter of Beziers by crawling through the sewers, joined Young Renard as his ward and companion through the years of rebellion.

Their fight raged on with heretics burned at the stake by the tens of thousands. The rebels grew in strength under the command of Young Renard and by 1215 recaptured much of the lands lost to the Crusaders.The new Pope, Honorius III renewed the Crusade in 1219. By 1222 all lands were recaptured by the rebels but lost again.

Young Renard and Yvette fought valiantly but in 1244 they faced their final battle at Montségur.