Béatrice de Planisoles

Béatrice de Planisolles; married de Roquefort and de Lagleize (* 1274 in Caussou France; ? † after 1322 Varilhes ), landed gentry of the county of Foix, was the star witness in the heresy trial against the country priest Pierre Clerque 1320/21.

Life

Béatrice de Planisolles was born in 1274 in the Pyrenees village Caussou near Ax -les -Thermes in the Ariège department today in a family who were devout Cathar for generations. The village is also known as the ancestral home of the de Planisolles family. She spent her childhood in Celles, a village halfway between Tarascon and Foix. 1291 she married, probably in the church of Notre Dame de Carnesses, Bérenger de Roquefort, Castellan on Montaillou.

After her husband's death (around 1298 ) they had to leave the castle and moved to a house nearby. At this time she had an affair with Pathau Clerque who had raped her beginning in 1297 according to their own statements in the castle. At the end of 1299, she began a relationship with the village priest Pierre Clerque, a relative of Pathau. A year later she left Montaillou and moved to a "small" house near the Church of Prades without the relationship to stop him.

On August 15, 1301 Batrice de Planisolles finally left the Pays d' Aillou to marry a nobleman from Dalou, Guillaume- Othon de Lagleize in his hometown on August 19, 1301. With him, she first lived before they moved to Dalou for a short time in Crampagna. Again, they continued to meet with Pierre Clerque. Her second husband died after a brief marriage in the year 1308. After his death, she spent some time in ill Varilhes. Only after her recovery she lived again in Dalou.

There it was in 1316 the mistress of the young Catholic priest Barthelemy Amilhat. She moved with him after Lladrós / Aragon - an area in which priests could live openly with her ​​lover together. But a year later, they moved back to be ( provisionally ) to separate from him. Barthelemy Amilhat went to Carcassonne and Béatrice de Planisolles probably by Rieux -de- Pelleport to their daughters in order to subsequently settle back into Varilhes.

There she reached on July 23, 1320, the summons of the Inquisition at Pamiers for July 26. After their first unvereidigten interrogation, she fled. On July 29, 1320, she was arrested while fleeing the Inquisition in the company of Amilhat. In the nine interrogations by the Inquisitor Bishop Jacques Fournier was the principal witness against the under suspicion of heresy village priest Pierre Clerque. She herself was sentenced on March 8, 1321 for heresy and imprisoned in Allemans and released on July 4, 1322 on the condition that carry "Double Yellow Cross".

Importance

The fate of the Béartrice de Planisolles has been preserved in the records of the papal Inquisition. These files today represent a unique source to obtain information on the everyday lives of people in the Middle Ages. Here, numerous details which would make the Catholic Church forgotten in their fight against the Cathars result. A special position assume the acts of Jacques Fournier, the future Pope Benedict XII. , A.

Béatrice de Planisolles was. Due to their ancestry and their relationship with the village priest Pierre Clerque one of the most important people in this process Inquisition Your testimony made ​​it possible for the first time the double game of the Curé of Montaillou to an end.

This came through unknown circumstances within a few years to become a powerful strength that is more than unusual for a simple village priest. His connections extended into the dungeons of the Inquisition of Carcassonne to Toulouse. First they used Clerque his power to protect the Cathar families in the village. But more and more he used his power for his own interests. Under pressure from the Inquisition of Carcassonne, he betrayed the people he pretended to protect.

Today is no longer to prove why they, with their testimony so heavily loaded the man who for years was her lover. It threatened the pyre. Seems most probable that they had learned from the reprisals of the priests against the Cathar families in Montaillou. And since they felt this belief has been proven at least belonging, her could not be indifferent to the fate of these people. The interrogation by the Inquisition held at 8 days of the trial was.

Before the last day of the trial, she suffered a bout of weakness, and she recanted all the statements made ​​above about the priest. This was tantamount to an admission of guilt. Why she did, remains open. Some sources believe that she was tortured. Has been proven that this was not an agent whose Jacques Fournier made ​​use of; he preferred the interrogation. Closer is the suspicion that they had been placed by Pierre Clerques even under pressure. There is evidence that he tried many a time to influence witnesses, even when he was imprisoned by the Inquisition.

Béatrice de Planisolles himself was sentenced to prison, and with it all other suspects from Montaillou. Only one of the suspects was sentenced to death by Fournier at the stake. About a year later she was released on the condition for life to bear the "double yellow crosses ," the most visible mark of shame for a Cathar believers ( see also heretics ). After that their trace is lost.

Still has the name Béatrice de Planisolles in the Ariège and Languedoc a special sound. He became a synonym for an upright and steadfast wife.

Family

• Great-granddaughter of Raymond de Planisolles Granddaughter of Arnaud de Planisolles Daughter of Philippe de Planisolles

• 2 sons (names not recorded ) (* btw 1292-1294 )
• Beatrice ( * 1295) († betw 1309-1320 )
• Condors (* btw 1296-1298 )
• Escarmonde (* btw 1296-1298 )

• Ava (* 1302/ 03)
• Philippa (* 1305)