The present Albi Cathedral had been preceded…
1283 CE
The present Albi Cathedral had been preceded by other buildings.
The first dated from the fourth century and in 666 was destroyed by fire.
The second is recorded in 920 by the name of Saint Cecilia, the present-day patroness of musicians.
It was replaced in the thirteenth century by a Romanesque cathedral in stone, destroyed in the wake of the Albigensian heresy in the Languedoc and the attendant crusade against the Cathars waged against the southerners by the papacy and northern French nobles.
Bernard de Castanet, papal Inquisitor of Languedoc and Vice-Inquisitor of France, was born in Montpellier and obtained a law degree from the University of Montpellier.
He had conducted diplomacy for the Church in Italy and Germany.
Castanet had been appointed the Bishop of Albi in 1276 , a post he will hold until 1308, and in which Castenet engages in a power struggle with the local landowners.
He uses accusations of heresy and the inquisition to control and punish those who oppose his right to arrest any citizen in the diocese and other political power prerogatives he holds.
In 1287, Castanet orders the start of construction on a new fortress-like cathedral at Albi, built in the Southern Gothic Style.
As suitable building stone is not found locally, the structure is to be built almost entirely of brick.
Under construction for two hundred years, it is claimed today to be the largest brick building in the world.
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