Bernard Clergue

Who is Bernard Clergue?

Bernard Clergue was the town bayle of Montaillou in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. A great deal about his life is recorded in the Fournier Register and has been studied by historians, most notably Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie.

Bernard was a member of the powerful Clergue family, the wealthiest in the village. He was the son of Pons and Mengarde Clergue and the brother of Pierre Clergue. While Pierre became the village priest, and thus the local representative of the church, Bernard became the bayle, the representative of the government. The bayle was the tax collector and the main enforcer of law and order in the town, reporting to the châtelain who ruled to town for the Comté de Foix.

While Bernard was one of the few educated and literate people in the town he was still a peasant and most of his work was farming. As bayle he farmed not only his own land, but also that of the Comté. This included the land seized from Cathar heretics. As with the rest of the family Bernard himself was a staunch Cathar, but was for a long time protected by his wealth and connections.