Writing beneath the shadow of heresy: the Historia Albigensis of Brother Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay

This article examines how the Cistercian Pierre des Vaux-de-Cernay wrote the Historia Albigensis and what his history of Simon de Montfort's campaign in the Albigensian Crusade (1208-1218) - despite its inevitable one-sidedness - reveals about heresy, devotion and dissidence in early thirteenth-century Languedoc. Pierre's scriptural rhetoric, considered alongside the evidence of heresy and miraculous intercession that he recorded, provides some understanding of the young monk's intentions and mindset. With this analysis as a point of departure, the progression of the Historia Albigensis comes to reflect how Pierre's vision of holy war was challenged by the abuses he witnessed when he began travelling with the crusade in 1212. Concluding with some of Pierre's contradictions, this article suggests the Historia Albigensis is a source more valuable today than simply an example of anti-heretical propaganda.