Henry – abbot of Hautecombe (1160–76) and then of Clairvaux (1176–79), named cardinal bishop of Albano in 1179 and papal legate in 1181 – did not have the same reservations about leading troops as did his predecessor Bernard of Clairvaux. Under Henry's leadership, the Cistercian posture in Occitania shifted radically and set an unfortunate pattern. Bernard's sixth successor as abbot of Clairvaux was deliberately trying to avoid the failure that his predecessor encountered. Furthermore, Henry extended Bernard's justification of using force in Jerusalem to the campaign against heretics in Occitania. As Yves Congar concluded: ‘La croisade s'est transposée en guerre sainte contre les hérétiques.’ He placed the blame squarely on Henry of Clairvaux and the evolution of his thinking during the two years preceding the Third Lateran Council. Accepting that conclusion, we shall extend it by examining more sources, looking for evidence of Henry's preaching, and analysing his language with a view to the rhetorical patterns of demonizing heretics and evoking pollution, threat to the social order, and apocalypticism.

A short overview of events in the 1150s and 1160s in France, the Rhineland and England will chart the heightening sense of alarm over heresy during the years that preceded and coincided with the beginnings of Henry of Clairvaux/Albano's involvement as a leader in the affairs of the Cistercian Order and the Church.