[The Companions of Jehu by Alexandre Dumas, pere]@TWC D-Link book
The Companions of Jehu

PROLOGUE
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It was he who dictated the terms, veritable priestly terms, hard and unconditional.

The Avignonese were commanded to demolish their ramparts, to fill their moats, to raze three hundred towers, to sell their vessels, and to burn their engines and machines of war.

They had moreover to pay an enormous impost, to abjure the Vaudois heresy, and maintain thirty men fully armed and equipped, in Palestine, to aid in delivering the tomb of Christ.

And finally, to watch over the fulfillment of these terms, of which the bull is still extant in the city archives, a brotherhood of penitents was founded which, reaching down through six centuries, still exists in our days.
In opposition to these penitents, known as the "White Penitents," the order of the "Black Penitents" was founded, imbued with the spirit of opposition of Raymond of Toulouse.
From that day forth the religious hatreds developed into political hatreds.

It was not sufficient that Avignon should be the land of heresy.


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