- Imprint: Profile Books
- Published: 25/08/2011
- Price: £17.99
- Format: Hardback
- Extent: 304p
- Edition Illustration Details: Illustrated
- ISBN: 9781846683190
- Subject: History
The Friar of Carcassonne
The Last Days of the Cathars
Stephen O'Shea
Secret tribunals, illegal rendition, torture, trumped up charges ... all in a society controlled by fear. Such was the tenor of life in Languedoc around 1300. The dungeons housed hundreds of despairing innocents. The charge - heresy.
Nearly a century had passed since Languedoc had been put to the sword in the Albigensian Crusade, but the stain of Catharism still lay on the land. Any accusation of Catharism invited peril. But repression bred resentment and it was in Carcassonne that resistance began to stir. In 1300 a great orator emerged who brought together the currents of resistance. Three years later the terrible prisons were stormed and the inmates set free. The orator was a Franciscan friar, Bernard Délicieux. The forces ranged against Delicieux included the ruthless Pope Boniface VII, the Machiavellian French King Philip IV and the grand inquisitor of Toulouse Bernard Gui (the villain ofThe Name of the Rose).This magnificent book, which forms a kind of sequel to Stephen O'Shea's bestsellingThe Perfect Heresy, tells his inspiring life and tragic story.'O'Shea's vivid and evocative story of the extraordinary and moving career of Bernard Délicieux rests on thorough and wide-ranging knowledge and shrewd historical judgement'- R. I. Moore, author ofThe Formation of a Persecuting Society
About the Author
Stephen O'Shea, for many years a journalist in Paris and New York, contributed to a wide variety of publications on the arts and translated French feature films.The Friar of Carcassonneis his third book of medieval history. He currently lives with his two daughters in Providence, Rhode Island. stephenosheaonline.com
Reviews
'O'Shea's vivid and evocative story of the extraordinary and moving career of Bernard Délicieux rests on thorough and wide-ranging knowledge and shrewd historical judgement ,', R. I. Moore, author of The Formation of a Persecuting Society
'So exuberantly coloured that O'Shea's narrative crackles with the pace of a gripping historical novel', Iain Finlayson, Saga
'Vividly describing this wonderfully sleazy and corrupt world... This is a great story, full of fascinating characters corrupted by power, and O'Shea tells it well with a real sense of excitement that makes it a pleasure to read.', Sean McGlynn, BBC History
'Fascinating', David V Barrett, Independent
'He writes beautifully and has a rare ability to bring the past to life.. revel in the author's mighty narrative skill.', Jonathan Wright, Catholic Herald
