Capuche

The Historic Cathar Mysteries and a Barbaric Church -- a Medieval Novel

By: Hotse Langeraar

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

The tale opens with a brutal medieval public execution in 1213 England. It is the true story of Sir Morvran ab moel Llywarch, a Welsh Noble, and Lady Margaret l'Estrange -- a medieval saga of a forbidden love, persecuted and crushed by a barbaric Catholic Church.
The narrative follows actual events and personalities, and a tragedy of suffering unfolds, but also of hope and passion -- a mystical journey in search of the beyond and the power of love under the most arduous circumstances.

At the dawn of the 1200s, the well-educated Noble, Sir Morvran Llywarch, loved books and manuscripts and chose an academic life over Knighthood.
As a scholar and archivist, he worked with a female Clergy member on improving manuscript bookmaking. And as they collaborated, they became friends, and their lives turned irreversibly when they fell in love.
Their world was not forgiving about out-of-wedlock relationships, even more so when it involved a Nun, which put their lives at great peril.

At the same time, in his search for knowledge and the mysterious, Morvran embraced the eternal esoteric teachings of the Cathars and became one of their leaders known as Capuche.
In the 13th-century feudal world of corruption and hypocrisy by the Catholic Church, the teachings and lifestyle of the Cathars stood out as a beacon of hope for a tyrannized and abused population.
But they were a thorn in the eyes of the Catholic Church, and threatened by their presence and acceptance, the Church regarded them as heretics and religious pagans -- to be pursued, tried by the Inquisition, and burned at the stake.

Witnessing this savage cruelty, Morvran, as Capuche, set out to take from the Church and even the scales, giving relief to the oppressed. He, Mary, and the Cathars were loved and lived among the people they supported and helped and taught in the arts of healing, medicine, hygiene, literacy, and for those who wanted the esoteric Cathar teachings.
But their illicit love, Morvran’s Cathar affiliation as Capuche, and his campaigns against the Church attracted attention and ultimately provoked the terrifying wrath of the Religious Clergy.

Relentless in its pursuit, Rome declared the Albigensian Crusade (1209 – 1229), targeting the Cathars in France and England. They would not stop hunting down Capuche to eradicate the Cathar heresy, restore the faith, and, more importantly, put the income back into its Roman coffers.

The Cathars, though, were loved and had powerful allies in the Knights Templar who protected and guarded them against the Catholic religious fervor.
Exposing them and Capuche’s identity proved difficult -- they were part of the population hidden in plain sight.

But the Catholic Church would not stop.
____________________