false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1231751123m/6089865.jpg 6089865 5 A dreadful pageant haunting Novelist-Historian Zoe Oldenbourg began on a hot, still day in 1209, when a French army took Béziers, bastion of one of history's most romantic territories. The region covered all of present south France. Its palaces were rich in art, dominated by codes of courtly love. Its tongue was a musical dialect that had given the region a flourishing poetry & was to give it a name—Languedoc (for langue d'oc, lit. the language of yes). French kings coveted Languedoc. Innocent III loathed it as the Cathar religion's center, the last great Christian heresy before the Reformation to shake Roman power. Besieging Béziers, the French came in god's name, seeking heretics. Inside, they slaughtered until the red crosses on their white tunics were lost in blood. In 51 hours, they killed the city's population of 20,000. Languedoc's rape, which, under the name of the Albigensian crusade, took place during 35 years of unparalleled savagery following the slaughter at Béziers, has now preoccupied Oldenbourg through one remarkable volume of history (Massacre at Montségur) and two historical novels. 651143 book 1961 Les cités charnelles ou l'histoire de Roger de Montbrun total:2|5:2| 2 10 4 1 5 0 true false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 1980 Mon Jan 12 01:04:13 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 01:41:07 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jul 26 11:32:40 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 11:32:40 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 28 19:27:28 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 28 19:27:28 -0700 2008 5 0 false false Fri May 16 07:20:37 -0700 2008 Fri May 16 07:20:37 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6089865