TOLOSA or the sword of the heretics

In charge of the appalling Inquisition, two monks hunt down the Cathar heresy in Toulouse and the Lauragais region in the 13th century. Brought together to reconstruct the tribunal of the Toulouse inquisition after the archives were burnt down, the two inquisitor brothers will see their paths diverge despite the tender friendship that links them. The Dominican Saint Albert was to declare war on evil, revealing the premises of totalitarian thought and techniques. The Franciscan Paul would experience the turmoil of the soul and seek abjuration, opening the way to forgiveness.

But the Cathars had no intention of giving in. They hold the absolute secret that calls into question the foundations of Christianity. The faidits, the noble knights of Occitania fighting against the Albigensian crusade led by the Frankish knights, provide them with protection and do not hesitate to carry out coups de main.

A series of sadistic and unexplained

crimes are committed in the prison at Haut Murât where the heretics are held. The seneschal of Toulouse investigates but finds himself at a dead end. It seems that certain tongues must be silenced forever.

Exhausted by so many burnings at the stake, Brother Paul finally breaks his vows of obedience. He discovered the best-kept secret in history and chose the path dictated by his soul. The Franciscan will appear before his judge, Brother Saint Albert. For all eternity, the two Inquisitor brothers will remain united by the mysterious "bonds of the stake".

This historical novel reads like a judicial enquiry into the mysterious world of the monasteries of the Middle Ages, in a climate reminiscent of Umberto Eco's famous novel "In the Name of the Rose".

This novel sheds light on a troubled period in history that played a major role in shaping totalitarian thinking and the relationship between France and Europe. The Inquisition, which began in France against the "Cathar heresy", continued in the following centuries against Protestants in particular, as well as in Spain. It highlights the dehumanising spring that preceded all massacres, and which would be fully asserted in the twentieth century against other victims

. It shows the extent to which the inquisitorial monks innovated to achieve their ends. We owe them the inquisitorial procedure so dear to the French examining magistrate, as well as the organisation of the registration of the population. The novel is based on historical data, court reports, the codified procedure of the Inquisition and other works on the period.

Yvon Ollivier is an author and magistrate. He has written extensively on the relationship with others in France and the place of minorities in the republic - "la désunion française" l'harmattan 2012; "La France comme si ou l'improbable réforme du jacobinisme" ed le temps 2017. He has written numerous novels such as "Gueule cassée" ed Yoran embanner 2015 about the trauma of the first world war, or "les frères keveguen" ed Yoran embanner 2017 about the seizure of power by the far right in France. He also wrote "les ruines d'Occident" Yoran embanner ar gedour in 2013 on Celtic philosophy and "la petite de ferruch" ed complicité 2024 on the delicate issue of rape and transgenerational trauma. Anyone who wants to reflect on the present age must write novels," said Albert Camus.