[1] Ms. 609, of the library of Toulouse, fol. 28.
Some of the Cathari committed suicide in other ways. A woman of Toulouse named Guillemette first began to subject herself to the _endura_ by frequent blood letting; then she tried to weaken herself more by taking long baths; finally she drank poison, and as death did not come quickly enough, she swallowed pounded glass to perforate her intestines.[1] Another woman opened her veins in the bath.2
Such methods of suicide were exceptional, although the _endura_ itself was common, at least among the Cathari of Languedoc. "Every one," says a trustworthy historian, "who reads the acts of the tribunals of the Inquisition of Toulouse and Carcassonne must admit that the _endura_, voluntary or forced, put to death more victims than the stake or the Inquisition."
Catharism, therefore, was a serious menace to the Church, to the State, and to society.
Without being precisely a Christian heresy, its customs, its hierarchy, and above all its rites of initiation--which we have purposely explained in detail--gave it all the appearance of one. It was really an imitation and a caricature of Christianity. Some of its practices were borrowed from the primitive Christians, as some historians have proved.[1] That in itself would justify the Church in treating its followers as heretics.
[1] Jean Guirard, _Le consolamentum ou initiation cathare_, in _Questions d'histoire_, p. 145 seq.
Besides, the Church merely acted in self-defense. The Cathari tried their best to destroy her by attacking her doctrines, her hierarchy, and her apostolic character. If their false teachings had prevailed, disturbing as they did the minds of the people, the Church would have perished.
The princes, who did not concern themselves with these heretics while they merely denied the teachings of the Church, at last found themselves attacked just as vigorously. The Catharan absolute rejection of the oath of fealty was calculated to break the bond that united subjects to their suzerain lords, and at one blow to destroy the whole edifice of feudalism. And even granting that the feudal system could cease to exist without dragging down in its fall all form of government, how could the State provide for the public welfare, if she did not possess the power to punish criminals, as the Cathari maintained?