The Counts of Toulouse and their Allies

The Counts of Toulouse never enjoyed the benefits of an efficient miltary machine, such as that controlled by the King of France. French nobles formed a structured military machine well suited to large-scale war, with its clear hierarchy and specific martial duties. In contrast the Occitan nobles knew only a convientiae, and a sense of cortezia, encompassing concepts of honour, hospitality, and generosity. Cortezia, like the derivative concept of gentility in England, encouraged men to do what they believed to be right, whatever the consequences. Convientiae and cortezia together assured an effective resistance to the French. The Counts of Toulouse were able to rely on powerful allies such as the Counts of Foix and Comminges, and the Niort family, Viscounts of the Plateau de Sault. They could also rely on hundreds of lesser nobles, many of whom were prepared to risk and loose everything. The same was true of the citizens of Toulouse and of other cities and towns.

Yet Convientiae and cortezia were no match for an efficient brutal professionally-lead crusader army, with all the resources of western Christendom behind it. Worse, the advantages of primigeniture soon became apparent. Time after time it proved almost impossible for a dozen co-siegneurs to co-ordinate effective resistence, or to demand military help from unwilling neighbours. As both sides recognised, Occitania was simply not equipped to withstand an efficient conemporary army. So it was that the wars against the Cathars saw its whole system swept away, and replaced by the French model.

(You might have wondered why the modern French system of inheritance law is so similar to that of the Medieval Languedoc. Here is the explanation: When the Languedoc was annexed to France the French system of primogeniture was introduced, and continued throughout the Kingdom of France through successive reigns until the French Revolution. The Revolutionaries were keenly aware that primogeniture built large and powerful dynastic families. Wanting to prevent the creation of such families, they implemented the old inheritance system of the Languedoc for the new French State. Whether the system succeeded in its objectives is questionable, but it did ensure that the French concept of liberty does not extend to allowing you to leave all your property to whom you want, and ensured that the French countryside is today dotted with ruins co-owned by thirty cousins)