Tuesday, September 5, 2017

A Dancer in the Infinite - Chapter 82


Chapter 82 Toulouse

 


 

Once word had spread to Rome that young Raymond had raised the Yellow Cross of the Cathars over Toulouse, Innocent wasted no time in excommunicating the young upstart.  In fact, he went so far as to remove all the Saint Gilles clan’s claims to all territory…ceding it all to Simon de Montfort.  Toulouse was to be the crown jewel in Simon’s new kingdom.  And, officially, it was already so.  However, in practice this proved a completely different matter.  All the Occitan nobles, the St. Gilles’, the Trencavels, the Foix’s all rushed to the defense of the young Count Raymond.  Though the pope had given Simon Toulouse, taking it was another matter entirely.

Complicating matters considerably was the fact that the young Raymond VII was not only an inspiring presence who completely reinvigorated the cause of the Occitan princes and their Cathar subjects, but he was proving to be a fierce warrior and a tactful general.  He stole victory after victory from Simon’s troops.  The Yellow cross banners once again fell from towers and fortresses all over Languedoc, throughout places that Simon had counted has conquered.  The tide was turning under the young rebel leader, the Occitans called the youthful Raymond, the Lamb of God, and in their stories he amassed evermore victories against the Lion de Montfort.  The Pope and Amaury were becoming impatient with Simon and the buzzing in his head grew ever more strident and bloodthirsty.  Simon knew what he had to do.  That which he should have done, but had not the courage, nor papal authority to undertake before.  Lay siege to Toulouse.

The siege was hard fought on both sides.  Both armies knew that this war determined the fates of all who fought in it.  Each side had learned from ten years of warfare with each other what strategems and devices, what counterattacks worked, and which did not.  Despite young Raymond’s reputation as the Lamb of Languedoc, his tactics were ruthless.  Any besiegers that were captured by the Toulousians had their eyes and tongues removed and were dragged around the city streets by horse, and left to be finished off by the dogs and crows.  Finally their hands and feet were removed and returned by trebuchet to their comrades’ base camp.  Raymond had learned a trick or two from Simon.

Simon was not to be outdone, however, and the buzzing in his head gave him an idea to break the siege before his men deserted him and his long campaign in Languedoc amounted to nothing.  He had his men built the greatest siege engine the world had yet seen…a monstrous cat, Simon called it.  It was a tall wheeled platform which was covered in animal hides and blood to keep it from burning from flaming arrows the defenders would rain upon it.  In the top, archers could shoot down into the fortified city and below, Simon’s engineers, under its protection could dig beneath the walls and breach them.

The Toulousians watched in horror as the cat was brought near their great city.  Raymond the Younger knew exactly what the cat meant.  This day was to be the deciding day.  All or nothing.  The cat would mean doom to Toulouse if it were allowed to draw near the walls.  Raymond had to risk assault directly on Simon’s forces and destroy the cat…or the Crusadors would destroy them.

And so it was that Raymond VII rode with his host of Occitan knights broke forth from the gates of Toulouse and rode out to join in this final battle for life or death.  No Northern crusader could stand against the fearsome wrath of Raymond.  Where his father had been a diplomat, Raymond was a warrior first and foremost.

Simon saw Raymond and his knights approach the cat, and took his fiercest men to intercept him personally.  Swords and axes fell.  Blood covered everyone near the cat that day.  Arrows flew.  The trebuchet’s rained rocks down from Toulouse onto the battlefield.  They were manned by women and girls, as Raymond had ordered every man and boy to the battle.

At last Simon neared Raymond.  They stared into each other’s eyes with deep hatred and bloodlust.  And then it happened.  A rock launched by two young girls found its target in Simon’s head, crushing both his helmet and his brain, knocking body from his horse, dead before he even hit the ground.

A stunned silence fell instantly over the battle.  Cheers rose from the defenders of Toulouse and all knew that the day was decided.  The cat was burned to the ground and the crusaders retreated from the battlefield.  Count Raymond VII had shown his defiance with a crucial victory.  The Abliginsian Crusade ended that day.

Sadly, for the Cathars and their defenders, as they celebrated their victory over their hated foe, Simon de Montfort, in Rome the Pope, a buzzing in his head, had decided upon a new stratagem to deal with the herectics of Languedoc.  And the Inquisition was born.


copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt

No comments:

Post a Comment