"GOD WILL RECOGNIZE HIS OWN"*
(Beziers: 22 July 1209)
(from the book Trencavel between legend and reality, now unavailable)
Dieu reconnaîtra les Siens/God will recognize His own
Illustration: Rudy Van Giffen/Copyright: Monique Decamps
"Wife... Take the children... fire is at our heels
Beziers is now a hell riven by long and red flames
My dear... Be sensible... leave your linen of silk
Take my hand... Towards the cathedral I will guide your steps!
Wife... Keep you faith in God... Relax this frantic expression
Our son you alarm... From this flight through the streets he is completetly exhausted
Sweetheart... Hold your head high... Glance not around...
Those who ventured out have fallen under the slash of the assassins.
Wife... be courageous, against the crusaders I will protect you
Come... Hasten pray... Here is Montfort coming... Our salvation is thither, so close at hand...
Our last born I am holding tightly in my strong arms
Trust me, my beloved... No ill can befall us.
Wife... Let us push the doors of the Romanesque Church together
To save our little boy, turn not away to face these infamours murderers
O no, they are upon us ! My dear your terrifying cry stabs me with pain
Die not sweetheart... Withdraw the lance that pierces you.
Wife... for you and the urchin there is no more I can do
God has closed your eyes... in the softness of Heaven has He welcomed you!
Prostrate with grief I hear our daughter wailing
A demon has snatched her from me
And in the crowded church 'tis alone and in despair that I enter henceforth.
Very close to me a Cathar child in a corner is seated
In what way is he different from the Christian I have been?
Like me, his heart bleeds for those massacred in his own family
"Would I rather be drowned in the deep salted sea" than deliver to the assassins this little survivor.
Through pure eyes he seeks a Perfect...**
He finds her near the nave, gives her a deep bow***
His hands folded, he receives her blessing... pronounces the ritual words...
The "consolament" is immediately granted to him... the sole and supreme sacrement.
"Child... Reconcile not thyself so easily to misery
The troops of my Lord of Trencavel will soon arrive... We shall survive the furnace,
Little one shake not thine young head thus
Keep on hoping... Fervently cling to life!
- Master... your trust I am unable to share... Bishop Montpeyroux has betrayed us...
The ribalds have forced their way in, armed with cudgels and knives there are indulging themselwes in the worst carnage,
Master... Pray give an ear... Can you perceive outside the ringing voice of Arnold-Amaury?
Orden is given to have us all exterminated... Be we Christians or impious.
- Little one... What do you do? Sheath the dagger that offends my eyes,
Suicide you cannot attempt without incurring God's wrath.
Climb upon my shoulders... Pray forget this folly
Since we are to die... 'Tis together we shall rise to Paradise!
- Master... The cathedral is ablaze now
Let me kill me as my religion allows****
Fire already licks my feet, my legs,
What I want to attempt is not wrong...
But for your Christian T'would be a deadly sin.
- Boy... Look at the handsome edifice built by Master Gervais
From the midst it cleaves asunder... about to collapse upon us.
Take the dagger then... Act as you please
Pierce your poor side is that is your wish...
- Master... Master... Bear no grudge against me
'Tis thus I choose to die... with dignity...
Master... Hold me tight in your arms...
Slowly my life is flickering out... Forgive me...
Upon you my blood is flowing.
- Little one... Little one... All is over for thee
Towards the divine light thine soule has fled
The church crubling in two thou wilst not see
Christians... Cathars... Jews... all will perish with me...
Pray that God, without any discrimination, will recognize as His own in His infinite clemency!"
Thus ended "the grand mazel", the great butchery,
That costs the lives of twenty thousand victims,
Upon the burning ruins a magnificient Gothic cathedral was erected...
A place of pilgrimage delicately touched by thousands of respectful hands nowadays...
Blackened rocks... unwitting witnesses to a cruel barbarity.
* Arnold-Amary, abbot of Citeaux, was appointed papal legate in 1204. He was the supreme head of the crusade. He it surely was
that pronounced the famous citation wrongly attributed to Simon de Montfort: "Kill them all... God will recognize His own!"
** A Cathar priestess
*** The melhorer, a sort of baptism
**** The Cathars' resort to suicide is not established and remains a point of difference among historians.
Illustration: Rudy Van Giffen
Illustration: Rudy Van Giffen
