Guillaume Bélibaste (

occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

: Guilhèm Belibasta) is said to have been the last

Cathar 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. Follo ...

parfait Parfait (, also , ; meaning "perfect") is either of two types of dessert. In France, where the dish originated, parfait is made by boiling cream, egg, sugar and syrup to create a custard-like puree. The American version consists of layers ...

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. He was

burned at the stake Death by burning (also known as immolation) is an execution and murder method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment f ...

in 1321, as a result of the Inquisition at

Pamiers Pamiers (; oc, Pàmias ) is a commune and largest city in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the most populous commune in the Ariège department, although i ...

led by

Jacques Fournier Pope Benedict XII ( la, Benedictus XII, french: Benoît XII; 1285 – 25 April 1342), born Jacques Fournier, was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1334 to his death in April 1342. He was the third Avignon pope. Benedict was a careful ...

(afterwards Pope Benedict XII). Much of Bélibaste's biography can be found in the pages of

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Emmanuel Bernard Le Roy Ladurie (, born 19 July 1929) is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ''Ancien Régime'', particularly the history of the peasantry. One of the leading historians of France, Le Roy Ladurie h ...

's ''

Montaillou Montaillou (; oc, Montalhon) is a commune in the Ariège department in the south of France. Its original, medieval location was abandoned and the current village is a short distance away. History The village is best known for being the s ...

''; although Bélibaste never lived at

, he is frequently mentioned in the interrogations of suspected heretics from Montaillou. He was the son and namesake of Guillaume Bélibaste, a rich farmer at Cubières. After killing a shepherd, he had to leave Cubières and became a shepherd himself, and, in due course, a parfait. As a Cathar preacher, he was the pupil of

Pierre Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and

Jacques Authié Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

. He eventually settled in the Kingdom of Valencia at

Sant Mateu Sant Mateu is a town and municipality in eastern Spain, in the province of Castellón, part of the autonomous community of Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most pop ...

and then Morella in the

Maestrazgo The Maestrazgo () or Maestrat () is a natural and historical mountainous region, located at the eastern end of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range, in Spain. It encompasses the north of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, in Castellón provinc ...

, where he made baskets and carding combs and became a mentor to a community of Cathars, some of whom had fled persecution in the Languedoc. Others migrated regularly between the two regions. One of the latter was

Pierre Maury Pierre Maury (1282 or 1283 – after 1324) was a shepherd in the Comté de Foix. His life is known through his deposition, and the depositions of his friends and associates, to Bishop Jacques Fournier who was hunting for Cathar heretics. He play ...

, a native of Montaillou. When, in 1320, his lover, Raymonde Piquier, became pregnant, Bélibaste persuaded Pierre Maury to marry her. Then, a few days later, he dissolved the marriage and salvaged his own reputation by making it appear the child was Maury's. Eventually he was betrayed by the spy

Arnaud Sicre Arnaud Baille/Sicre was a cobbler in the Comté de Foix in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century. A number of details about his life are known to us through the Fournier Register, and Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's analysis of those reco ...

in the service of the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

. Bélibaste was taken to Villerouge Termenes, interrogated and burnt at the stake there.

Bibliography

* Gauthier Langlois
« Bélibaste, le dernier parfait cathare occitan »
''Paratge'', 2012. *

, ''Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error.'' translated by

Barbara Bray Barbara Bray (née Jacobs; 24 November 1924 – 25 February 2010) was an English translator and critic. Early life Bray was born in Maida Vale, London; her parents had Belgian and Jewish origins. An identical twin (her sister Olive Classe was al ...

. New York: G. Braziller, c1978. *Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, ed., ''Autour de Montaillou - un village occitan; histoire et religiosité d'une communauté villageoise au Moyen Âge. Actes du colloque de Montaillou (25-26-27 août 2000)''. Castelnaud la Chapelle, 2001.

References

13th-century births 1321 deaths People from Aude Catharism Executed French people People executed by France by burning People executed for heresy Executed people from Languedoc-Roussillon 14th-century executions by France {{France-reli-bio-stub