Beatrice's Last Smile is a sweeping narrative history of the medieval west from the beginning of the third century to the beginning of the sixteenth. This book focuses on slow formation of Latin Christendom over a millennium in the aftermath of the disintegration of the western Roman Empire.
Pegg's narrative of the massacres of the crusades - a fervour of 'cleansing' the world of heresy, and a fear that Christendom was being eaten away by heretics - is gripping. Innocent III's holy genocidal war fundamentally changed how Western civilization dealt with individuals accused of corrupting society, and led to the creation of the inquisition.
Set during a pivotal moment in the 13th century, this book delves into the extensive inquisition of over five thousand individuals in Toulouse regarding the Cathar heresy. Conducted by Dominican inquisitors, the investigation included a diverse cross-section of society, from nobles to commoners, all questioned about their interactions with the heretics. The narrative explores the societal implications and the sheer scale of this unprecedented inquiry, marking it as the largest and fastest investigation of its kind in medieval Europe.
Krucjata przeciwko albigensom i bój o chrześciajństwo