Lombers et le colloque de 1165

Lombers

In 1165, Lombers was a large fortified town of the Albigeois, held by lords who made no secret of their sympathies for the "Good Men". It was there that the Church chose to confront them in public. The archbishop of Narbonne Pons d'Arsac, the bishops of Albi, Nîmes, Toulouse and Lodève, the abbots of Castres and Saint-Pons, the viscount Raymond Trencavel and the viscountess Constance, sister of the king of France, sat facing men whom the records call only "those who call themselves Good Men", led by a certain Olivier. Summoned to say whether they believed in the baptism of children, in the eucharist, in marriage, they answered from the Gospel, refused to swear — "Christ forbade all oaths" — and turned the accusation back on bishops "who are not good shepherds but wolves". The bishop of Lodève, who presided, declared them heretics; they left free. Ten years before the Third Lateran Council, twenty before the decretal of Verona, Lombers is the first time that Occitan Catharism was named and condemned to its face, by judges who did not yet have the means to carry out the sentence. Of the castle that housed the assembly there remain two levelled towers and stretches of wall on the crag above the village.

Wikipédia — Lombers ↗

Getting there : 12 km south of Albi by the D 612 then the D 4 (Réalmont). The village is freely accessible; the castle ruins can be seen from the town and are reached by a path (partly private property: keep to the path). The church of Saint-Barthélemy stands in the town.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound