Council of Tours
October 1, 1163
Alexander III convened seventeen cardinals and more than a hundred bishops at Tours to reaffirm his legitimacy against the imperial antipope and to condemn the Cathar heresy spreading through Languedoc. It marked the first formal church action against the Cathars. The council's denunciation signaled that Rome viewed dualist heresy as a structural threat to Christian society, not merely a local aberration that could be handled by diocesan authority.
In context
Also in 1163 (3 other events on record)
- Notre-Dame foundation stone laid · Europe · Culture
- Ayyubid power grows in Egypt · Middle East · Politics
- Founding of the Cathar church at Saint-Felix · Europe · Religion
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Religion
Era
High Middle Ages (1000–1300), one of 1,306 events from that era on Saeculum.