Pons d'Arsac

Who is Pons d'Arsac?

Pons d'Arsac was the Archbishop of Narbonne from 1162 until 1181. He was archbishop at an important time in the history of Narbonne and Languedoc in general; a time when heresy, in the form of Catharism, was spreading and gaining power and acceptance while the Roman Catholic Church was forming a response.

In 1165, Pons called a council at Lombers, near Albi, to deal with the spreading Catharism in his archdiocese, largely in response to the council held at Tours in 1163 under Pope Alexander III. The council was a public debate between Cathars and orthodox Catholic delegates. Constance, daughter of Louis VI of France, and most of the citizens of Albi and Lombers were present and the decision of the council in favour of orthodoxy is still preserved. The judges of the council had been decided upon by representatives of both the Cathars and the Catholics and the latter had been forced to agree to argue solely on New Testament grounds.

In 1166, Pons solemnly confirmed the decision of Lombers at a council in Capestang. However, the power and influence of the heretics was so demoralising to the faithful that some Cistercian monks from Villemagne near Agde abandoned their vows and their monastery to marry and the archbishop was unable to compel them to return without papal interference, which was probably ineffectual as well. In 1173, both Pons and Ermengard of Narbonne sent separate pleas to Louis VII of France for aid against, in Pons' words, "the oppression of heretics" which put "the ship of Saint Peter ... in danger of sinking."