JUVENILE COMPANION, AND SUNDAY-SCHOOL HIVE. VOL III. 1850. NEW SERIES. London: ASSOCIATION BOOK ROOM, 5, HORSESHOE COURT, LUDGATE HILL. FOR many ages the Papal or Roman Church has, whenever it has possessed power, been guilty of the most horrid and perfidious cruelties towards those who have refused to acknowledge its supreme authority. Among others who have had to endure the horrible atrocities of the Roman Church, the Albigenses, of the south of France, are specially noticed by historians; and with their sufferings the history of Carcassonne, in the south of France, is connected. This town is in a direct line about 390 miles south from Paris; but is a much greater distance therefrom by the road. It was formerly under the rule of the Count of Beziers; but was, in the thirteenth century, ceded to Louis the IX., king of France. Carcassonne stands on the banks of the river Aude. On one side stands the old town, which is surrounded by walls, D |