Charles Maturin, The Albigenses

Christina Morin (University of Limerick)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Originally intended as the first book of a trilogy of historical romances meant to explore the “feelings and manners” of Europeans in ancient, middle, and modern times, Charles Robert Maturin’s sixth and final novel,

The Albigenses; A Romance

(1824), begins in the autumn of 1216, after the first crusade against the Albigensian heretics (Maturin 1:vii). Members of the larger Cathar heresy that emerged in the Languedoc region of modern-day France in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Albigenses believed that a “bad” god created all things physical, and that a “good” god ruled over the spiritual. The objective of human life, according to the Albigenses, was to renounce the evils of this world and thereby attain both purity and Heaven. Although the Catholic Church initially…

1248 words

Citation: Morin, Christina. "The Albigenses". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 August 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1621, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1621 The Albigenses 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.