Pierre Maury
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Pierre Maury (born 1282 or 1283) was a shepherd in the Comté de Foix. He life is known through his deposition, and the depositions of his friends and associates, to Bishop Jacques Fournier who was hunting for Cathar heretics. He plays a prominent role in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou and in some ways is that book's protagonist.
Maury was born in the small town of Montaillou one of eight known children of Raymond Maury, a weaver. Pierre Maury became a shepherd caring for the sheep of a number of the villagers. During his youth he was converted from the Catholicism to Albigensianism by his brother Guillaume and neighbour Guillaume Belot.
At age 18 Maury left home for the Val d'Arques where he worked as a shepherd for his cousin Raymond Maulen. While living with and working for his cousin Maury fell in love with Bernadette den Esquinath, a girl from the village. This passionate relationship persisted for two years, but his fellow Cathars disapproved as she was not of the faith. Pierre left Bernadette when he was hired, again as a shepherd, by Raymond Pierre, and became involved with his employer's daughter, also named Bernadette. The Pierres were dedicated Cathars and Raymond was without sons and hoped to make Maury his heir. Pierre became closely involved in the Cathar community, helping guide parfaits from village to village. Through this duty he developed a much envied collection of pieces of bread, each blessed by a different Cathar parfait.
In 1305, however, Jacques Authié, one of the local Cathar leaders, was captured and the villagers of Arques, fearing punishment, abandoned the open practice of Albigensianism and traveled en mass to Avignon to seek absolution from the Pope. Maury refused to renounce his Albigensianism and did not participate in this exercise, instead staying in the village looking after the flocks of those who were away. When the now Catholic villagers returned, Maury went home to Montaillou. Since the villagers had revealed all to the authorities he was now a known, but unabsolved, heretic and thus became a fugitive from the Catholic authorities.
He spent Christmas of 1305 with his family in Montaillou before going into the employ of Barthélemy Borrel who sent him to Catalonia to look after sheep he owned there. Living amongst the nomadic groups of shepherds Maury no longer had many dealings with Cathars and was beyond the reach of the local inquisition. After two years of working for Borrel, Maury visited the fair in Laroques d'Olmes. There he stayed with his eighteen year old sister, Guillemette, and brother-in-law Bertrand Piquier. That night Piquier beat his wife severely. While a husband's power was considered absolute Maury was greatly concerned about this brutality to his sister. A few days later he returned to the town and stole away with his sister, entrusting her to a pair of parfaits.
For his absenteeism during this incident Borrel fired Maury, but he soon found another job working as a shepherd for Guillaume André. He spent three years working for André, travelling through Catalonia and Foix with the flocks of sheep and other shepherds. At some point in this period he was accused of fraternizing with a known heretic, but escaped the charge by pretending to having been miles away from the incident, a story backed up by his friends. He also successfully avoided the round-up of the heretics of Montaillou in 1308, being warned by Bernard Fort, who supplied flour to the shepherds. In 1309 Maury left the employ of André and worked for Pierre Constant of Rasiguières for a year before joining with his brother Arnaud in working for Raymond Boursier. In 1311 Pierre and Arnaud left this group, Arnaud going home to Montaillou and Pierre to Catalonia where he joined the team of shepherds working for Barthélemy Companho.
In Catalonia he came in contact with the small group of Cathar exiles lead by the parfait Guillaume Bélibaste. Over the next several years Maury traveled through Catalonia and the eastern Pyrenees. As a skilled shepherd his services were much in demand and he could find work throughout the region. Maury became comparatively wealthy for a peasant due to his skill and willingness to seek out the highest paying employers. Despite his many travels he frequently met up with Bélibaste, who pressured the nomadic shepherd to marry and settle down. He tried to attach him to Raymonde, the daughter of a successful blacksmith, who was a follower of the parfait. Pierre eventually agreed and the pair were married. The marriage only lasted a few days; however, before Bélibaste switched his view on the union and convinced Maury to have it annulled. A few months later Raymonde gave birth to a child. Most of Maury's friends were convinced that the parfait had used Pierre to cover the breaking of his own vow of chastity. Pierre, however, continued to trust the parfait.
Bélibaste's Cathar community was disrupted when the Inquisition sent an Arnaud Sicre to infiltrate and inform on the group. Soon after first Bélibaste and then Pierre Maury were captured. In 1324 Maury was imprisoned for his heresy and no known records report his fate past this date.
[edit] References
- Le Roy Ladurie, Emmanuel. Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error. translated by Barbara Bray. New York: G. Braziller, c1978.
