Aftermath

The loss of military might suffered by Spain crippled its power in future struggles. Though the victor, Simon eventually had to relinquish his hold on the lands granted him by Innocent III. When he questioned why God had deserted him, Simon was told that his enemies triumphed in the end because of his pride and arrogance (Siberry, pg. 101).

John of Garland had written as early as the 5th century of the allegorical battle in a man's soul between virtue and evil, and only triumphs within could bring triumphs without. The wanton cruelty done in God's name by Simon de Montfort lost him that crucial inner battle. Though a military commander of great ability and organizational skills, he would not be well remembered for his humanity, but rather for his lack of it. He died five years later in a futile assault on the town... of Toulouse (Shannon, pg. 65).

The Albigensian Crusade concluded with a treaty signed in Paris on April 12, 1229, where the disputed province of Languedoc was joined to France, bringing political stability to the area (Shannon, pg. 65). The heresies were not, however, eliminated by military means. It took the Inquisition to finally break the Albigensians, and even then, recorded vestiges of the religion remained in Italy as late as the 1950's (Sumption, pg. 235).

The Crusades provided Western Europe with thousands of returning soldiers who had no other skill than making war. This, combined with the new knowledge of walled town construction, led to the eventual rise of unified nation states where before only the loosely adhered to feudal monarchies existed. By the early 14th century, Dante Alighieri wrote that war and arms were the creative mortar of empires.

As the surviving knights returned from France and the Levant, various nobles and monarchs bid for their services. As Diaz de Gamez wrote, "...without good knights, the king is like a man who has neither feet nor hand" (Ross, pg. 92). The money to pay troops became available due to the growth of towns and the middle class who were beginning to ally themselves with the monarchs against the feudal classes and thus expanded the available resources of the centralizing monarchies (Preston, pg. 80). Warfare was becoming a business.

Leadership at Muret

There still remained plenty of areas where leadership, more than money, attracted the fighter to war. Charismatic, able and trusted generalship continued to be the motivating factor in much of Western Europe, including England, Germany and Northern France. The warriors themselves continued to lend an air of romance and bravery to their endeavors as well, evidenced in the literature of the 13th through 15th centuries. Le Jouvencal wrote of the comradeship which war provided: "It is a joyous thing, a war...You love your comrade so much in war" (Verbruggen, pg. 41). As the struggles among fledgling nations continued, the generals continued to depend on the psychology of the medieval knight to provide the skilled, well-armed fighter willing to lay down his life for his leader or a just cause.

[Note: This is from my upcoming book, Legacy of Leadership – 517-1504 AD.]

The Albigensian Crusade Simon de Montfort vrs. King Peter of Spain: 1213 A.D.

Introduction
Simon de Montfort, the Flail of God
The Battle of Muret 1213 A.D.
Aftermath