ON THIS DAY · 22 JULY 1209

Massacre at Béziers

22 Jul 1209 — A crusade proclaimed against Christian heretics in Languedoc sacks Béziers. Thousands die, believers and Cathars alike. A chronicler reports the command: “Kill them all — God will know his own.” Crusade has turned inward. A site of memory.

Open this map in the interactive atlas →

WW2 is free in full, and chapter 1 of every atlas is free. A free account opens 3 more chapters a day. Starter, at $9 a month, opens all 21 with no daily limit — see the plans.

Free printable Crusades study guide, sent by email ↓

Map: Massacre at Béziers, 22 July 1209 — 22 JULY 1209 · THE CRUSADES, 1095–1291

These maps are reconstructed from published sources · Cliopatria v0.2.1 — historical political boundaries · Simon Barton — Crusading in Iberia, c. 1060–1212 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art — The Crusades (1095–1291) · Natural Earth — physical reference geography · OpenStax — The Crusading Movement

Source details

Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. CC BY 4.0 · Dated polygons selected; local transfers and shared frontier edges derived with documented historical event corrections.
Simon Barton, The Cambridge History of the Crusades. Published summary consulted for dated conquests; no map copied
Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, 2014. Facts consulted; no prose or image copied
Natural Earth. Public domain
OpenStax, World History Volume 1. CC BY 4.0

At some ports, source coastlines have offsets of several kilometers at their resolution. The original polygons are preserved, and the review record gives explicit coastal anchor tolerances.

reconstruction: 1028–1325 · reconstruction: 1040–1235 · reconstruction: 1099–1235 · reconstruction: 1202–1219 · reconstruction: 1202–1249 · reconstruction: 1206–1215 · reconstruction: 1206–1226 · reconstruction: 1210–1215 · reconstruction: 1210–1219 · reconstruction: 1210–1226 · reconstruction: 1210–1240 · reconstruction: 1212 · vector: 1072–1235 · vector: 1072–1249 · vector: 1072–1325 · vector: 1094–1235 · vector: 1099–1226 · vector: 1139–1226 · vector: 1177–1259 · vector: 1188–1215 · vector: 1188–1219 · vector: 1188–1235 · vector: 1188–1259 · vector: 1188–1271 · vector: 1192–1235 · vector: 1192–1362 · vector: 1202–1215 · vector: 1202–1219 · vector: 1202–1235 · vector: 1202–1240 · vector: 1202–1249 · vector: 1202–1259 · vector: 1202–1284 · vector: 1206–1215 · vector: 1206–1219 · vector: 1206–1235 · vector: 1206–1240 · vector: 1206–1259 · vector: 1206–1271 · vector: 1206–1304 · vector: 1210–1215 · vector: 1210–1219 · vector: 1210–1249 · vector: 1210–1304 · vector: 1212

Layer records and reconstruction methods

The moment in context

The wars of Iberia, the Baltic and southern France had different enemies and purposes. What made them crusades was an arrangement the Church could carry from one campaign to another. A participant took a vow; preaching recruited fighters, Church-authorized fundraising supported them, and an indulgence and legal privileges rewarded their service. The destination no longer had to be Jerusalem.

From Crusades beyond the Holy Land, chapter 9 of The Crusades, 1095–1291 (1212).

The place: Massacre at Béziers — map and full story →

Teach this in 5 minutes

Why it happened — The indulgence, generalized. The indulgence Urban offered for the Jerusalem expedition became available for other campaigns. Popes extended crusading rewards to wars against…
The turn — Las Navas de Tolosa, 16 July 1212. At Las Navas de Tolosa on 16 July 1212, a coalition of Christian kings defeated the Almohads and badly weakened their power in Iberia. Within four…
What it changed — Iberia reconquered. The advance continued with Córdoba’s fall in 1236 and that of Seville in 1248, shown by the arrow. Granada survived as a tributary emirate until…

Then ask the room: By 1220, crusades were being called against Muslims in Spain, pagans in the Baltic and heretics in France. What did “crusade” mean? The argued answer is on the chapter page →

The atlas that shows it

The Crusades, 1095–1291

12 CHAPTERS · AN INTERACTIVE SITUATION MAP

THE FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE

Get the printable study guide for The Crusades free. I’ll send you a few short letters, then one when a new atlas opens. That’s all. — Paul

NO TRACKING · YOUR ADDRESS IS USED FOR THE DISPATCH AND NOTHING ELSE · UNSUBSCRIBE ANYTIME

← EVERYTHING ON JULY 22 THE FULL CALENDAR →