The Black Brotherhood was an urban society (or

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

) established in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in 1211 in response to the

White Brotherhood The White Brotherhood (french: Fraternité Blanche) was an urban society (or militia) of Toulouse established in 1211 during the episcopate of Folquet de Marselha, so-called from its members' habit of wearing white crosses on their chests. The so ...

led by the bishop

Folquet de Marselha Folquet de Marselha, alternatively Folquet de Marseille, Foulques de Toulouse, Fulk of Toulouse (c. 1150 – 25 December 1231) came from a Genoese merchant family who lived in Marseille. He is known as a trobadour, and then as a fiercely anti- ...

. The Blacks opposed the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (; 1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown ...

and supported the

Count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ru ...

Raymond VII Raymond VII (July 1197 – 27 September 1249) was Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne and Marquis of Provence from 1222 until his death. Family and marriages Raymond was born at the Château de Beaucaire, the son of Raymond VI of Toulouse ...

. Unlike the Whites, who were predominantly from the city proper, many of the Blacks came from the suburbs. They were moderate in their political outlook and some may have been

Cathars Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Fol ...

, the very heretics the Whites were set up to destroy. They defended Cathar and

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

homes and shops from the violence of the Whites and, according to

William of Puylaurens Guillaume de Puylaurens (in Occitan, Guilhèm de Puèglaurenç; in Latin, Guillelmus de Podio Laurenti; in English, William of Puylaurens) is a 13th-century Latin chronicler, author of a history of Catharism and of the Albigensian Crusade. He was b ...

, "daily the two parties would clash, banners flying, bristling with weapons, even with cavalry in evidence."Oldenbourg, 153.

Notes

Sources

* Oldenbourg, Zoe. ''Massacre at Montsegur: A History of the Albigensian Crusade''. Sterling Publishing Company, 2006. . {{refend History of Toulouse 1211 establishments in Europe 1210s establishments in France Albigensian Crusade