The divine plan in Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay, Part 4

THE THIRTY FIRST MIRACLE

A great deal more of the Historia passes without miracles.  

Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay includes a variety of correspondence between the legates, King Pedro II of Aragon, and Pope Innocent III.  As Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay describes it, King Pedro first asked the legates to restore the lands of the Counts of Toulouse and Foix, and of Gaston de Bearn, but was soundly rebuffed.  He then appealed directly to the Pope and misled the Supreme Pontiff into giving him letters to that effect and also into calling off recruitment for the crusade.  The legates, however, sending their own delegation to the Pope shortly afterwards, changed his mind causing him to revoke what he had sent to King Pedro and to rebuke him somewhat.

Events progress.  The French prince, Louis, is about to join the crusade against the Albigensians but is prevented by the Devil who embroils France in numerous other wars (especially the planned invasion of England, backed by Pope Innocent III).  Simon de Montfort has his son, Amaury, knighted.  Preaching of the Albigensian crusade all across France is suspended so that preaching for the Fifth Crusade (to the Holy Land) can take its place, although Peter's uncle Guy, now Bishop of Carcassonne, continues to preach it.  As a result, Count Simon finds himself virtually bereft of crusading troops.  Meanwhile, King Pedro of Aragon gathers his forces and joins the Count of Toulouse in a bid to push the remaining crusading army out of the region.  The conflict comes to a head at a fortress called Muret, not far from Toulouse, from which Simon de Montfort's forces have been raiding the Toulousain.

In the preceding 82 sections of the Historia, no miracles or divine interventions have been recorded.  In XIV, § 443, p. 201, Simon de Montfort sends for his son Amaury, now a knight in his own right, who is engaged in a far-off siege at Roquefort.  Count Simon will need his son's assistance, along with any other troops he can summon, at the upcoming battle of Muret.  Of course, it does not sit well with a warrior's reputation to raise a siege before achieving victory as we have seen before -- Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay has described Simon's own reluctance to do so and to defend his reputation when he did.  

"But the Lord Jesus, our ever-present helper in times of trouble, so ordained matters that the Count's son was able to obey his father's orders and yet avoid the shame of raising the siege, for on the very evening that the Count's letter arrived the enemy besieged in Roquefort asked for peace.  They were ready to hand over the castrum and their prisoners (almost sixty in number) on condition that they themselves should be allowed to leave unharmed.  Under the pressure of necessity, the terms were agreed to by Amaury, who left a few knights to garrison the place and hastened to join his father."

It is hardly a miracle on the scale of some which Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay recounted, but, in truth, only one such miracle occurs in the entire text after the recounting of canine aversion to the Count of Toulouse.  This one might be seen as a convenient coincidence of timing, but even seeing God's hand in that is probably too much.  It appears from the text that negotiations had been underway before the arrival of the letter, hence Amaury knew that the defenders "were ready" to agree to terms which he had hitherto found unacceptable.  After receiving his father's letter, he was now "under the pressure of necessity" and concluded the negotiations for surrender on terms he would have preferred to avoid.  No divine intervention would be required in such a circumstance, except to show Amaury in a more positive light.  By the time Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay concluded his work, Amaury de Montfort was the leader of the crusade and Peter may have been anxious to show his previous mediocre record for siege warfare as the ordination of an approving God.

THE THIRTY SECOND MIRACLE

Although no genuinely supernatural events follow in the Historia, a minor miracle is presented in XIV, § 454, p. 207.  Simon de Montfort and his forces were moving towards Muret, which was already besieged by the King of Aragon and Count of Toulouse.

"Thence they proceeded to a place between Auterive and Muret which was difficult to go through.  They expected the enemy to confront them here because the place was marshy and the road narrow and waterlogged.  There was a church nearby, and the Count, as was his custom, went into the church to pray.  It was raining heavily at the time, much to the distress of our troops, but as our Count, the knight of Jesus Christ, began to pray, the rain stopped and the clouds gave way to clear skies.  Boundless bounty of the Creator!  The Count rose from his prayers and our men passed through the difficult terrain without any impediment from the enemy."

In fact, the Creator could have withheld his bounty, since the enemy made no attempt to prevent Simon de Montfort's approach to Muret at any time and were, in fact, eventually found on the other side of the River Garonne, where they were engaged in peace negotiations with the bishops.  The fighting did not begin until the next day.

THE THIRTY THIRD MIRACLE

Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay's account had been entirely devoid of miracles for a long time prior to this minor show of divine favour  and, considering the scale of what was at stake at Muret, it is remarkable that the next divine intervention reported, the only other one related to the battle of Muret, was also trivial.  In XIV, § 463, p. 211, the battle of the following day had already begun and the King of Aragon killed in the initial clash of the front two lines of crusading troops with the front two lines of their enemies.  

The Battle of Muret by Francesco Allegrini

"Our Count now saw that his two leading lines had been submerged by the enemy, and had virtually disappeared from view; he therefore mounted an attack from the left against the enemy standing opposite him, drawn up for battle in countless numbers along a ditch which lay between them and him.  As he started his attack he could see no way of reaching the enemy, but then found an insignificant path in the ditch (provided, we believe, by Divine providence), which enabled him to cross and reach his adversaries, whose line he now penetrated most courageously, like the courageous knight of Christ he was."

Aside from that, Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay shows God offering no further help to His army.  The attention shown to the battle of Muret is considerable and many details are provided, but divine intervention and clear signs of divine favour are absent.  The provision of the "insignificant path in the ditch" is a truly humble exception.

In XIV, § 464, p. 212, the citizens of Toulouse were "obstinate and blinded by the Lord's will" in refusing an offer to surrender.  They had not yet heard of King Pedro's demise, as Peter points out, and they were routed and slaughtered by the victorious crusaders.

THE THIRTY FOURTH MIRACLE

Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay unequivocally saw the victory at Muret as part of the divine plan and due to God's will, but the miracles which festooned far less important conflicts earlier in his text are notable here only for their triviality.  Even without supernatural events, however, Peter describes the entire outcome of the battle as a miracle.  He concludes his account by having Simon de Montfort walk barefoot to the church in XIV, § 466, p. 213,

 "to render thanks to Almighty God for the victory He had granted, since he recognized this miracle had been wrought by God's grace and not the efforts of men.  His horse and armour he gave as alms for the poor."

Immediately after this, in XIV, § 467, p. 213, Peter continues by including the description of events written by his fellow Cistercians:

"So that the true nature of this marvellous battle and glorious victory may be more firmly fixed in the hearts of my readers, I think it will be well worth quoting a letter which the bishops and abbots present at the scene despatched to all believers in Christ."

He then reproduces a letter from Bishop Fulk of Toulouse and other bishops, which describes the battle of Muret all over again, exceeding Peter's detailed description both in length and in attribution of events to divine power.  Fulk and his colleagues begin with recounting how "the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, did miraculously cast down the enemies of the Christian faith and grant to the Holy Church a glorious victory and a glorious triumph".  

In this account, when the armies meet, "the might of the Highest at once shattered His enemies through the hands of His servants, and brought them to nought in an instant.  They turned their backs in flight, and became as chaff before the wind, and the Angel of the Lord chased them".  When the crusaders attack in this version, "the followers of Christ were trusting in His help; despite their much smaller numbers they felt no fear of the host opposing them but attacked them valiantly, endued with power from on high".  In the same tone, they conclude their letter: "Let all Christendom give thanks to Christ for the victory of the Christians with sincere and heartfelt devotion; for He, through a few of the faithful has overcome an innumerable multitude of the faithless and granted His Holy Church a happy triumph over His enemies.  Honour and glory be His to all eternity, amen!"

It is not the case that this more forceful and expressive letter contains a perspective on events different from that of Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay.  However, Peter lets his superiors in the Church, and in fact in his order, put the case more strongly so that the point "may be more firmly fixed".  In so doing, he provides a possible insight into the paucity of miracles which makes the second half of the Historia so different from the first.  

Miracles had been fairly common in the first three hundred or so sections.  After the twenty sixth miracle (XII, §§ 297-298, p. 146-147), which I noted previously, this changed.  The divine interventions recorded, even when described as "miracles" were no longer supernatural in nature and could easily be explained by ordinary means.  The miracles to follow will be of much the same nature.  The only exception, the thirtieth miracle noted previously, was looking backward and recounting a miracle in retrospect which had occurred much earlier.

The crucial difference after § 298 seems to be that Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay himself joined the Crusade and became a witness to events at that time.  The previous miracles had all been passed on to him by his sources, usually senior Cistercians when they are named.  Peter himself did not claim to have witnessed anything beyond mundane explanation.    He did often attribute divine intervention to seemingly mundane events, but in comparison to the writings of his fellow Cistercians, he was moderate in that regard.  The extravagant miracles of the first half of the Historia (and the thirtieth miracle in the second half) can thus be seen as the accumulated stories of miraculous events which were given to Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay for inclusion in his writing.  It is all too easy to pass on an exaggerated or invented story to someone who wasn't there and doesn't know the principal characters involved.  It is much more difficult to do so to someone well acquainted with those involved, and nearly impossible to someone who was present.  

Modern published historians are self-driven authors, assisted by editors perhaps, but ultimately controlling their own processes of selection, inclusion and interpretation.  As a result, they may tend to attribute the same authorial characteristics to writers like Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay, focusing too much on who he was ("youthful", "passionate", "an eyewitness") and too little on the figures around him.  Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay was not a highly-placed Cistercian.  In what little we know about him, he appears in the shadow of his uncle Guy, the Abbot of his monastery, to whom he was bound not only by familial respect, but by monastic vows of obedience.  He was further overshadowed by even larger and more important members of his order, such as Fulk and Arnau Amalric.  When men like these told him of a miracle, and perhaps suggested it for inclusion in his text, it was not for Peter to contradict them.  

In this light, it is interesting to note that almost all of the overt miracles Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay includes are prefaced by a small editorial comment of his, noting that the event "should not be passed over" or that it is an event he "must not pass over".  While such phrases indicating consideration about the inclusion of events occur elsewhere, the majority of them in the Historia preface miracles or divine interventions.  

THE THIRTY FIFTH MIRACLE

The year 1214 was a difficult one for Simon de Montfort and the crusaders, despite the victory at Muret.  Numerous castles continued to cast off the yoke of de Montfort's authority and join the growing rebellion against his rule.  Aragonese and Catalan forces from the west operated against him as far as Beziers and Narbonne in the east.  In so doing, they had the open assistance of Narbonne.
Count Simon rode against the men of Narbonne and was nearly killed by them as recounted in XVI, § 502, p. 226.  Although crusading forces began to arrive again, it is likely that they would have had a great deal of trouble reaching de Montfort and joining forces with him if not for the intervention of a new papal legate, Peter of Benevento, who reconciled the men of Narbonne to the Church.  Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay, reported that the legate deceived the men of Narbonne in order to stall them and prevent them gaining any military advantage.  Unsurprisingly, Peter saw God working through the legate, in XVI, § 509, p. 230:

"The whole succession of events in that year is worth careful study -- indeed there is a strong element of the miraculous in the way matters turned out.  As recorded above, when the papal legate Master Peter of Benevento arrived in the Albigensian area, the men from Aragon and Catalonia had assembled at Narbonne to oppose Christianity and the Count of Montfort; for this reason the Count was positioned near Narbonne and unable to withdraw, since the enemy would immediately have set about ravaging the country round about.  Moreover, the men of Toulouse, Agen and Quercy were mounting frequent heavy attacks against him from more distant parts.  Whilst the athlete of Christ was in this difficult situation he was not without a helper in his hour of need; at one and the same time came a legate from the Curia and a whole host of crusaders from France!  How great is God's mercy!  As was widely realised, the legate would not have been so successful without the crusaders, and the crusaders would have achieved little without the legate; for, if the enemies of the faith had not been in fear of the crusaders they would not have obeyed the legate, and again if the legate had not come the crusaders (who subsequently came to face such large numbers of our enemies) could have made but little progress.  Thus, Divine intervention mercifully brought it about that whilst the legate, by pious deception, diverted the attention of the enemies of the faith assembled at Narbonne and held them in check, the Count and the crusaders arriving from France were able to cross to Quercy and the Agenais and attack their enemies -- Christ's enemies.  Such the pious deceit, the deceitful piety, of the legate!"

That Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay was obliged to depict the direct representative of the Pope as possessed of "deceitful piety" requires some additional explanation.  It would appear that Simon de Montfort's legitimacy at this time was quite unclear.  King Pedro II of Aragon had been a wholly loyal son of the Church and vassal of Pope Innocent III, who crowned him and accepted his oath of fealty in 1205.  Pedro was, furthermore, a champion of Christendom against her enemies in Spain, having played a key role in the legendary victory of Los Navas de Tolosa only 14 months before being killed at Muret.  Simon de Montfort was his vassal and had sworn loyalty to him before Pedro took Toulouse under his protection.  Had the battle of Muret turned out differently, de Montfort could easily have been seen as a villain bent on personal gain while Pedro maintained the sanctity of holy champion as well as suzerain acting in defense of his rights.  Even with Pedro's death and de Montfort's victory, however, many in the south may well have imagined that Count Simon had well exceeded his divine mandate and was now intent only on his own profit and aggrandizement.  When even the Holy See's representative stooped to trickery in order to support him, Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay may well have felt the need to emphasize that this was a divine and not a mortal ploy.

THE THIRTY SIXTH MIRACLE

With his crusading forces once more assembled, Simon de Montfort went on his seasonal counter-attack, retaking fortresses which had previously turned against him.  Some, he found abandoned.  Others put up a vigorous defense.  Showing his desperation, all that Simon de Montfort took he now destroyed, pulling down walls and towers.  He no longer attempted to garrison and hold what he captured, knowing from experience that the small garrisons he could afford to leave behind would be overwhelmed and that local troops could not be trusted to maintain their loyalty to him.  

A sure signal of Simon's loss of prestige and reputation occurred when Simon de Montfort ordered Deodat III, lord of the castle of Severac, to turn the fortress over to him and the latter refused.  Deodat III felt secure in this decision, not just because of the defensibility of his castle but, as Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay admitted, because he knew "the Count would not be able to maintain a siege, bearing in mind that it was winter and that Severac was in a mountainous region exposed to the cold weather." (XIV, § 538, p. 240)  De Montfort was then nevertheless obliged to lay siege to the castle which he had hoped he could merely command as its rightful overlord.

Perhaps it was due to these signs of Count Simon losing his grip on the territory he claimed, that Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay interpreted another trivial event as divine intervention in the siege of Severac in XIV, § 540, p. 240:

"Accordingly, when the Count with his army reached Severac he found the bourg unharmed and an ample number of houses suitable for lodging his troops.  After occupying these our men strengthened the siege.  This was indeed the doing of the Lord, a true support in times of trouble and a goodly helper in the hour of need."

They were "times of trouble" indeed and after expending some efforts, Simon de Montfort entered into negotiations with Deodat III, rather than taking the castle by force.  Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay is anxious to portray the defenders as being out of supplies and in desperate need of terms, but the terms reached belie this portrayal.  Deodat III gave over the castle, but to a local southern noble, not to Count Simon, and in return demanded and received back all of his lands already conquered by the crusaders.  Simon de Montfort agreed and was even reduced to asking the lord of Severac not to take reprisals against those vassals who had surrendered to the crusaders previously. 

Later (Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay does not say how much later), Deodat III received his castle back after acknowledging de Montfort's rights by paying homage.  All in all, resistance to the crusaders could not have turned out better for Deodat.  In retrospect, his decision not to burn down his own outlying bourg, was then a prudent decision in that he did not need to deny this advantage to the crusading army at a cost to his own property.  "The doing of the Lord" which Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay adds to the story, above, benefited the defenders in the end more than the crusaders.

THE THIRTY SEVENTH MIRACLE

An attempt to resolve the ongoing debate about the legitimacy of Simon de Montfort's claims to lordship in the region was made at Montpellier on January 8, 1215.  The Council of Montpellier was a gathering of archbishops, bishops, and abbots under the guidance of the papal legate, Master Peter.  The Pope himself had made clear that even his legate did not have authority to make a final decision on the matter of the rights to lordship over the whole territory, but these churchmen nonetheless put forth their opinion.

Such was the animosity of the residents ("evil and arrogant men" to Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay) to the Count of Montfort that they refused him entry to the town and he was reduced to waiting outside the walls "where the archbishops and bishops came to him whenever the need arose".

In XVI, § 545, p. 243, Master Peter of Benevento put the following question to the assembly:

"I ask and require you -- calling to witness Divine Judgment and reminding you of your duty of obedience to the Church -- to cast aside all prejudice, hatred or fear, and advise me faithfully and to the best of your ability on these questions.  To whom would it be best and most useful to grant and assign the city of Toulouse, for the honour of God and the Holy Church, for the sake of peace in these lands, and to help eliminate the filth of heresy?  The same, in regard to all the territories formerly held by the Count of Toulouse?  And the same in regard to the other territories which the army of the crusaders has occupied?"

This was a single question, covering all the mentioned territories, which of course left only one possible answer as all those territories had not been the sole domain of any one person before the crusade.  It was a cynical show of support from the mostly Cistercian attendees who had replaced the local archbishops and bishops over the preceding years.  In Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay's writing, the event was divine confirmation of the success of the "athlete of Christ" in achieving all that he had set out to do in the name of God (XVI, § 546, p. 243):

"The archbishops and bishops deliberated long and conscientiously, each consulting the abbots in his diocese and the clergy in his entourage.  They then set down in writing the advice they considered to be right and just.  In the end they agreed on one choice and one recommendation -- that the Count of Montfort should be chosen as chief and sole ruler in the whole territory.  What a wondrous outcome!  When a bishop or an abbot has to be appointed, even a few electors can hardly agree on one candidate; here in selecting a ruler for such a large territory, the votes of so many important men were unanimously in favour of this great champion of Christ.  Without doubt this was the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes."

The marvellous agreement of the churchmen whose grip on their diocese was maintained by de Montfort's military strength that he should continue to do so was unsurprising.  The Siblys, in a footnote to their translation, suggest that "our author's views on the unanimity of the prelates' choice seem an example of his naivety rather than any cynicism".  To believe that the final version of the Historia reflects only the naivety of Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay, acting as sole author, however, is to ignore that he received his information (and thus probably his viewpoint) from his superiors who were at the Council.  He does not explicitly mention his uncle as one of the "twenty-eight bishops" in attendance, but since Guy des Vaux-de-Cernay was at this time Bishop of Carcassonne and since Carcassonne was the headquarters of the crusade, it is almost certain that he was there.  

It was an empty gesture, however, as Pope Innocent III had clearly reserved the final decision for himself.  Thus having reached a unanimous decision "of the legate as well as the prelates", they sent a delegate to Rome to advise the Pope of their suggestion.  Innocent, unmoved by the miraculous agreement reached in Montpellier replied, in February, that he was still going to make the decision himself at a later date.

THE THIRTY EIGHTH MIRACLE

While the Council was deliberating, "long and conscientiously", the legate sent for Count Simon to meet with him and the prelates.  The one time that Simon de Montfort dared to enter the city, Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay recounts a divine intervention which was intended to reveal God's favour for His champion, but also reveals the amount of actual respect the Council and its eventual decision commanded among the local population (XVI, § 548, p. 244):

"A large group of the townsmen, inspired by their malignity, secretly armed themselves; some went into the church of the Blessed Mary, whilst others watched the gate by which the Count had entered and the road by which they expected him to return.  There they awaited his return, hoping to murder him.  The good Lord provided a different and far better outcome.  The Count became aware of what was going on; he left by a different route from the one he had used to go in, and escaped the ambush."

A few days later, the Council concluded its business and suggested the recently-escaped Count as sole ruler over a region in which he dared not walk the streets.  No reprisal against the citizens of Montpellier was even attempted.

Pope Innocent deliberated until April, by which time Prince Louis of France had signed himself with the cross and entered the Midi.  Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay in XVII, § 550, p. 247 recounts the anxiety this produced for the papal legate, who feared that the Prince "might use his authority to act against his, the legate's, advice and dispositions, by occupying or even destroying those cities and fortresses.  Thus it was being rumoured -- it seemed quite credibly -- that Louis' arrival and continued presence were not welcome to the legate."

In this situation, the Pope confirmed Simon de Montfort's lordship over the territories he claimed.  He was still reticent to do so, however, and only granted this lordship temporarily, until the Fourth Lateran Council convened that November to consider the matter more fully.  At that Council, the Pope gave final confirmation to Simon de Montfort over most of the "conquered" but still rebellious territories, although he set aside considerable territories in Provence for the Count of Toulouse's son, Raymond VII, whose right to inherit was also confirmed.

The Fourth Lateran Council's decisions in Rome seem to have had more effect than the Council of Montpellier's decisions earlier in the year, but still did little to quell the growing rebellion against de Montfort's rule.  Raymond VII of Toulouse raised forces all across Provence and while Count Simon was enjoying victory celebrations in France, he besieged de Montfort's Seneschal and forces at Beaucaire.  Count Simon, his brother Guy, and his son Amaury rushed to Beaucaire to counter-attack and raise the siege, and our chronicler went there as well in the entourage of his uncle.  They were expected and their effort at "besieging the besiegers" was difficult and costly.  The crusaders could only obtain supplies from two towns in the whole region and these had to be escorted under heavy armed guard so as not to be ambushed in a territory which had become "a faithless and rebellious nation!"  Meanwhile, the Count of Toulouse raised forces through Catalonia and Aragon and moved to retake his capital, Toulouse.

After several failed attempts to drive the besiegers out from around Beaucaire, and now out of supplies, de Montfort (and Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay) had to acknowledge that "he was unable to rescue the garrison" besieged inside Beaucaire.  He was forced into negotiations with Raymond VII and surrendered the castle of Beaucaire to him in return for the lives of his men.  In an attempt to preserve some illusion of success for his hero Count Simon, Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay claims that the garrison were to "be allowed to leave with all their equipment".  As is the usual case when Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay reports on one of Simon de Montfort's defeats, he is contradicted by the other sources.  The Canso says, in Laisse 170 that "de Montfort did recover his men, but nothing else.  The count of Toulouse kept their horses, armour and equipment".  The difference, in contemporary terms, was not minor.  For a knight to give up his horse, armour and equipment was to surrender and admit defeat, just as it was for a commander to lift a siege and withdraw from battle without having achieved success.  Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay's narrative of God's will enacted by His paladin, Count Simon, was not flexible enough to admit of this surrender.  Peter admits what he must, that the castle was surrendered and that Count Simon withdrew his forces, but there is no reason to believe his version of the terms.  In XVIII, § 584, p. 262, Peter demonstrates his usual rhetorical versatility in the face of adverse facts:

"Anyone who carefully considers the circumstances of this siege must agree that whilst the Count, having failed to take Beaucaire, could not claim a victory, nevertheless he did secure in full measure the honour merited by his noble and faithful conduct."

From there, Simon rushed to Toulouse where an advance force of his knights were captured and imprisoned in a house.  Count Simon retaliated by setting fire to the city which was nominally his.  This temporarily intimidated the citizens into surrender and de Montfort, correctly anticipating that he would later have to besiege "his" capital, began to pull down its walls.

THE THIRTY NINTH MIRACLE

The following months saw Simon de Montfort hurrying around his new domain and attempting, succesfully, to put down further rebellions against him.  With God revealing himself in the success of de Montfort's crusade for this one final time, it fell to the Devil, in Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay's framework, to bring about his downfall.  In XVIII, §599, p. 270:

"Then, when the Lord Jesus Christ was thus marvellously ensuring the success of His business in these parts, the Ancient Enemy, witnessing and envious of this progress, wished to hinder what he grieved to see succeed."

The setback to come was no peevish delay imposed by God to reserve glory to Himself.  What lay in de Montfort's future could only be the Devil's work.  Count Raymond returned to Toulouse, where the citizens welcomed him back and assisted him and his forces in quickly reclaiming the city and rebuilding its defenses.  There he was joined by his allies, including the Count of Foix.  

Count Simon hurried back to Toulouse immediately "hoping to take the city by force, but he was vigorously driven back by the citizens".  He then set about the nearly hopeless task of besieging the huge city.  He initially split his forces on opposite sides of the River Garonne, which flows through Toulouse, but a few days later changed his mind, realizing that, so divided, the forces were too small to survive a concerted attack from the defenders of the city.  While recrossing the river, the penultimate miracle of the Historia is presented in XVIII, § 604, pp. 271-272:

"A miracle which God worked whilst the Count was crossing back must be recorded, so that His name may be glorified for ever and in all things!  As the Count, fully armed and mounted on a heavily armoured horse, was trying to climb into a boat, he fell into the river at a point where it was clearly very deep.  For some time he did not surface, and our men were seized with terror and began to cry out in grief.  Rachel mourns her son!  Treacherously the Infernal One howls with joy, calling us 'orphans', although our father still lives.  But he who in answer to Elisha's prayers made the axe to swim on the water raised our leader from the depths after a long delay, his hands clasped together and raised to heaven in sincere devotion.  Joyfully our men in the boat lift him up and keep him safe for Holy Mother Church, for whom the Count had offered himself as a rampart.  Such the ineffable mercy of God the Saviour!"

To say that divine intervention was not required in order for Simon de Montfort to avoid drowning is not to take away from the impressive strength and athleticism he must have displayed in getting out of his armour underwater.  If God preserved His "athlete", however, it was only to prolong his suffering.

THE FORTIETH MIRACLE

Six long months passed during which the crusaders "expended enormous efforts and endured great hardships".  After this half-year, they had made no progress and were still fighting over the outer suburb or bourg of Saint-Cyprien.  The citizens of Toulouse had built some outer defenses to protect Saint-Cyprien and the besiegers were faced with yet another setback which was only alleviated by the final miracle of Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay's story, in XVIII, § 606B, pp. 273-274:

"The Count led them across the Garonne to ensure the investment of Toulouse on both sides, and they went to the suburb of Saint-Cyprien where they intended to pitch their camp.  However, the Toulousains came out in force to prevent our forces from entering the suburb.  Our men could not bring up their armoured horse because of the numerous ditches the Toulousains had dug, so despite the large size of our force we had to retire shamefacedly and pitch camp on the banks of the Garonne, some distance from Saint-Cyprien.  Our men are sad, the enemy rejoice; our men cry out in anguish, the enemy shout with joy; our men raise their standards, the enemy display not only their standards but the horns of their insolence as well.  Our men are in despair, realizing that they will not be able to enter the suburb -- and thus cut off access to the city by the two bridges -- without enormous effort and heavy loss of life.  This, our failure, was appointed by the All Highest, since He did not intend it to be said that men had accomplished what He wished to bring about by His own merciful grace and without the intervention of material things or human hands.  Suddenly a thick cloud appears, although the weather had been calm all day.  Heavy rain begins to fall.  The enemy is delighted, as they think that faced with such an accumulation of troubles we will flee from our tents.  Gradually the level of the Garonne rose and as night approached the right hand of the Lord did valiantly.  The unexpected force of the water broke both bridges in the middle; a large part of the suburb's fortifications were knocked down, the ditches and the enemy's equipment were miraculously destroyed.  Such the divine power of the Creator!  Our men enter the suburb without hindrance or fear, with the Lord preventing the Toulousains from coming out."

With this final show of divine help, the siege was brought up to the actual walls of Toulouse, where it continued to founder for another three months.  At that point, nine months into the endeavour, Count Simon de Montfort was killed as described previously. 

The death of Simon de Montfort, from the Canso

 Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay attributes nothing to God from this last miracle onwards.  He has Count Simon die slowly and deliberately, despite the obviously massive trauma of his wound, in order to show that he was martyred in imitation of Christ, "five times wounded by the enemy archers, like the Saviour for whom he now patiently accepted death, and by whose side he now lives in sublime peace, as we believe".  (XVIII, § 612, p. 277)  The siege of Toulouse is then abandoned "sadly and reluctantly".  Peter briefly notes defection of large parts of the territories back to their original owners upon the news of de Montfort's death.  His last two sections (XVIII, §§ 619-620, pp. 278-279) record the re-entry of Prince Louis into the fray and the efforts of Simon's son Amaury to recapture rebellious castra.  

There is no real conclusion to Peter's story.  It breaks off with the sentence "Proceeding further he severely harassed the enemy by destroying their castra and slaying unbelievers", and there it ends.  We do not know what became of Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay after writing these words and, indeed, surviving manuscripts of the Historia contain different sections of text from § 602 onwards, with many scholars, including the Siblys, attributing passages to some other author.  Perhaps Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay was killed; perhaps he gave up his work after the death of his hero; perhaps he despaired of explaining why God seemed to have turned against His followers in the Midi so completely.

No one managed to comprehensively edit the Historia from the writings that Peter produced.  It begins with an address to a clearly living Pope Innocent III, who had been dead for two years by the time de Montfort died at the abrupt end of the assembled texts.  This suggests that what we have in the Historia is what Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay wrote at the time, without the benefit of reviewing or rewriting his work upon completion.  Many of his accounts benefit from hindsight, particularly when he attributes temporary setbacks to God's long-term plans, but the overall story does not seem to be written from the perspective of someone looking back from the year 1218, when it concludes.

This lack of editorial retrospect perhaps accounts for the disjointed way in which God's plan for His crusade is presented.  At various points along the way, particularly in the first half of the Historia, God intervenes to show his approval and support with explicit, and impossible, miracles.  After Peter joins the crusade, he continues the narrative of God's intervention to support the crusaders, but in a modified way.  He no longer relies on fabulous, second-hand miracles but continues to show God acting through mundane events.  When Count Simon falls in battle, it is one of the many instances when setbacks were so serious that Peter did not easily find a way to incorporate them into his framework of divine providence.  The text then ends in an unplanned manner and so no rhetorical gloss is provided to support the framework during or after this crucial event.

Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay does not appear to have invented any impossible miracles himself, as he usually attributes those he describes to other sources.  That should not be taken to mean, however, that he approached his material with absolute integrity.   Those other sources were frequently men of far greater standing in the Church than Peter, and it is hard to imagine that he had ultimate control over the story he told.  Even from what we can see of Peter himself through his writings, he set out to ensure that "the Lord's mighty acts should be made known amongst the nations" (I, § 2, p. 5) and he stuck to that goal tenaciously, displaying flexible rhetoric to fit the crusade's disasters into his theme where he could, and concealing or changing the circumstances of those disasters where he could not.  Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay differs from other sources most when events, such as Simon de Montfort's defeats, challenged his narrative of divine action.  Where Peter des Vaux-de-Cernay is our only source, therefore, we must be hesitant to take his word on any set of events which might undermine his overriding imperative to present the crusade as the success of God's will, acting through His paladin, the "athlete of Christ".