Özet:

Although historical writings on Cathars' date back to the Catholic scholars in the 13th century, it is only in 19th century that a dramatical increase took place on this subject. The mystery of the Cathars has undergone significant changes over the years and allowed for different ideological point of views to prevail at various periods. Cathars' Manichaean origin was perceived as the dominant view for many years in Cathar studies. This perspective, which we call the traditional view, claims that the dualist doctrine, which started with Manichaeism, reached the Cathars of Northern Italy and Southern France through the Paulicians in Anatolia in the 9th century and the Bogomils in the Balkans in the 10th century. This view seems to have been abandoned after the 1950s. Recently, a new trend, known as the “skeptic” view, has emerged whose supporters speculate that the Cathars may have never existed in history and could be an imaginary enemy invented by the Catholics. Contemporary historians of Cathars are divided into two: "traditional" and "skeptic." The purpose of this article is to propose a new category, "the contemporary view," which questions the Eastern connections of the Cathars on the one hand and criticizes the “skeptical view” on the other by considering the sufficiency of these two categories and the points on which historians agree and disagree

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