Albigenses.
A sect of dissenters from the Romish doctrine, settled in the South of France, under the protection of Raymond, Count of Toulouse, their name being derived from the town of Albi. Innocent III organised a crusade against them in 1215, under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, and at the siege of Béziers it is estimated that 15,000 Albigenses were put to the sword. They nevertheless held out until 1229, when Raymond capitulated, and the Inquisition was established in Toulouse. The sect, though dispersed, was not destroyed, and its members carried the seeds of Protestantism into Bohemia, Germany and England.