To be correct, 'Beziers'.
2) The Bishop of Beziers, Renaud II de Montpeyroux, tried to stop the siege. He negotiated with the crusaders. He then prepared a list of a couple of hundred known heretics. Most of the townspeople refused to hand them over to the crusaders.
IOW, they got what they deserved? Most of the town stayed and fought the pope's army along with their so called 'heretic' neighbors... and my point was that they (Cathars) were counted as friends by their neighbors, who at the point of their lives refused to give them up. So much for the 'maniacal heretics' envisioned by the author of the OP. One might wonder who the townspeople would consider the 'maniacal heretics'... But then we will never know, as they all chose to die alongside the Cathars.
Renaud II left with a handful of faithful Catholics - who clearly knew what awaited them if they stayed in the city. They and Renaud made the wise choice. They neither sided with heretics nor stayed to die with them in a siege they were all-but-guaranteed to lose.
Faithful romanists, and supposedly wise, but men of God died within the walls.
After the siege and massacre (which probably wasn’t as extensive as some think)[...]
Riiiight... I hear y'all got the Spanish Inquisition pared down to the deaths of a drunk, a prostitute, and a small burro - Ain't historical revisionism great ?
they moved back into the city and resumed their lives with the new residents who quickly moved into the city and set up shop.
No they didn't, the town was all but razed.
“IOW, they got what they deserved?”
In the view of the people at the time, yes.
“Most of the town stayed and fought the pope’s army along with their so called ‘heretic’ neighbors...”
There was no pope’s army. All the troops were French, raised by Frenchman, and led by Frenchman. And none of that changes the fact that the view of the day was that those in Beziers got what they had coming.
“and my point was that they (Cathars) were counted as friends by their neighbors, who at the point of their lives refused to give them up.”
Which is still irrelevant.
“So much for the ‘maniacal heretics’ envisioned by the author of the OP.”
No, the two are not mutually exclusive. The people of Beziers simply had no reason to agree to anything put forward to them by northern Frenchmen. The Cathars were destructive in their activities, but that doesn’t mean the people of Beziers would hand them over to outsiders.
“One might wonder who the townspeople would consider the ‘maniacal heretics’... But then we will never know, as they all chose to die alongside the Cathars.”
None of them chose to die. They chose to fight. What happened to them in the end was not their choice.
“Faithful romanists, and supposedly wise, but men of God died within the walls.”
Those who left were faithful and wise. Those who stayed inside were faithful to their friends and town, and died for their choice.
“Riiiight... I hear y’all got the Spanish Inquisition pared down to the deaths of a drunk, a prostitute, and a small burro - Ain’t historical revisionism great ?”
The records of the inquisition - which are accurate while the ravings of anti-Catholics are not - tell us that the number of people condemned after an inquisition trial was relatively small over quite a few years. That’s just a fact. If facts bother you, then history is not going to be enjoyable to you.
“No they didn’t, the town was all but razed.”
No, a portion of the town - the towns symbols really - were burned. Much of the town was still standing and serviceable. That’s one of the reasons why the city’s population so quickly rebounded.