In the 13th century, the Catholic Church launched a crusade not in the Holy Land, but in France. The Albigensian Crusade ...

When a papal legate was murdered in southern France in 1208, Pope Innocent III's reaction was swift and harsh. Convinced that the villages between Montpelier and Bordeaux were hideouts for heretics ...

In the 13th century, thousands in France were investigated, massacred, or even burned at the stake by the Catholic Church. THE TWO CHURCHESCathars (left) perform the consolamentum (Cathar baptism) ...

Few medieval enterprises have been as romanticised or as vilified as the Crusades. Aside from the bitter legacy of hate they left in the Middle East, they also wrought havoc in Europe. Departing ...

How do we account for forces and events that paved the way for the emergence of Islamic State? Our series on the jihadist group’s origins tries to address this question by looking at the interplay of ...