Beliefs such as Bogomilism had arrived in…

Beliefs such as Bogomilism had arrived in the West France via trade routes from Eastern Europe by the twelfth century.

The first confirmed report of a group espousing similar beliefs is reported being active at Cologne by the cleric Eberwin of Steinfeld.

It has been suggested that the Paulicians, the Bogomils, and the Cathars had been deeply influenced by Manichaeism.

All are certainly dualists and feel that the world is the work of a demiurge of Satanic origin, but whether this is due to influence from Manichaeism or another strand of Gnosticism is impossible to determine.

The Bogomils and Cathars, in particular, will leave few records of their rituals or doctrines.

Only a minority of Cathars hold that the evil god (or principle) is as powerful as the good god (also called a principle) as Mani did, a belief also known as absolute dualism.

It is now generally agreed by most scholars that identifiable historical Catharism did not emerge until at least 1143, when the first confirmed report of a group espousing similar beliefs is reported being active at Cologne by the cleric Eberwin of Steinfeld.

A landmark in the "institutional history" of the Cathars is the Council, held in 1167 at Saint-Félix-Lauragais, attended by many local figures and also by the Bogomil papa Nicetas, the Cathar bishop of (northern) France and a leader of the Cathars of Lombardy.