Simon de Montfort, as feudal lord of the Viscounty of Beziers and Carcassonne, was bound by his ecclesiastical tenure to extirpate the heretics. He therefore continued his campaign; many towns and castles fell into his hands, some by force, some by panic. In the diocese of Albi, the chief seat of the obnoxious doctrines, the war was conducted with the most savage cruelty. When La Minerve, near Narbonne, after an obstinate defense, surrendered, one in whose heart a spark of humanity yet remained, proposed that the vanquished should be allowed to retire, if they would recant their heresy; but such mild terms were objected to by the merciless monks. "The terms are too easy," they exclaimed, "we come to extirpate heretics, not to show them favor!" "Be not afraid," replied the abbot in cruel mockery, "there will not be many converts." And he was right, but not in the sense in which he spoke. His intention was to kill every one of them; but their intention, or rather, firm purpose was, to accept of death rather than the papal terms. The Albigenses in the meantime were assembled for prayer. The abbot of Vaux-Cernay found a number of christian women in a house quietly engaged in prayer and waiting for the worst that could befall them. They expected no mercy from these holy fathers, and were prepared to die. He also found a number of men on their knees in another house peacefully awaiting their end. The abbot began to preach to them the doctrines of popery; but with one voice they interrupted him; and all exclaimed, "We will have none of your faith; we have renounced the church of Rome; your labor is in vain, for neither death nor life shall make us renounce the truth we hold." De Montfort was asked to speak to them. He visited both the men and the women, in all about one hundred and forty. "Be converted to the catholic faith," he said, "or mount this pile." He had previously caused an enormous pile of dry wood to be raised. Not one of the Albigenses wavered for a moment. They denied the supremacy of the pope and the authority of the priesthood; they owned no head but Christ, and no authority but His holy word. Irritated to rage at their constancy and calm firmness, he ordered the fire to be lighted; the pile was soon one mass of flames. The undaunted confessors of the name of Jesus, committing their souls into His hands, rushed voluntarily into the flames, as if ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire.
When the castle called Brau capitulated, De Montfort plucked out the eyes of more than a hundred of the defenders, and otherwise shamefully mutilated them, leaving one of them one eye that he might lead away the rest. Not, says the abbot of Vaux-Cernay, that the count took pleasure in such things, "for of all men he was the mildest," but because he wished to retaliate on the enemy. Such was the judgment of the monkish historian. At Lavaur, the city of the good Roger Bernard, Count of Foix, the barbarities surpassed all precedent even in this fearful war. The count is claimed by the Waldenses as one of themselves. "Of all the provincial princes," says Milman, "the Count of Foix was the most powerful, and the most detested by the church as a favorer of heretics. In this case the charge was an honor rather than a calumny. He was a man of profound religion; the first to raise the native standard against De Montfort, he was a knight of valor as of christian faith." At length the city fell into the hands of the besiegers; a general massacre was permitted; men, women, and children were cut to pieces; till there remained nothing to kill except some of the garrison and others reserved for a more cruel fate. Four hundred were burned in one great pile, which caused universal rejoicing in the camp. And amid all this rioting in fiendish cruelty, the bishops and legates stood chanting, "Come, Holy Ghost." It was here that lord Almeric with eighty nobles was brought before De Montfort, who ordered them to be hanged, as we have already seen. The pious Lady Geralda also suffered here; of whom it is said, "No poor man ever left her door without being fed."