War in the South: A First Look at Siege Warfare in the Albigensian Crusade,1209-1218

Abstract

The Albigensian crusade represents a classic but largely neglected example of the most common type of war in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the siege. An analysis of the sieges helps correct the current absence of work on the military aspects of the Albigensian crusade. Such an analysis places the crusade more firmly in the context of the siege warfare paradigm for the middle ages as well as in the historiography of warfare in western Europe during the High Middle Ages.

The crusaders participated in at least 45 sieges but fought only four field battles between 1209 and 1218. Aside from the storming of Béziers in 1209, the outcome of most sieges in the crusade was the result of negotiation rather than of assault. Though siege machines could play an important role in the wearing down, capture or negotiated surrender of strong points, they sometimes played a small part or none at all. Most of the major sieges required the judicious use of siege devices or the threat of them to be successful, however. Luck, resolve, aggressiveness and Simon de Montfort’s military reputation were the most important factors, and it was these things that sustained the crusade in the south of France for nine years.