In the original Latin: “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.”
These words would directly lead to the deaths of 20,000 people within hours — men, women, and children slaughtered, buildings razed to the ground.
Here’s the English translation: "Kill them all, God will know His own."
In 1209, Pope Innocent III had declared the Albigensian Crusade with the goal of total annihilation of the Christian sect of Catharism in France. Commanded by the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux, Arnaud Amalric, a crusader army quickly reached the walls of Béziers. Long story short, the crusaders stormed the gates, entering into the city and beginning an hours-long indiscriminate massacre. The crusaders tried to kill every Cathar they could find.
However, there was a problem — the Catholic inhabitants of Béziers mingled with the Cathars, and the crusaders were having trouble distinguishing Cathars to be killed from their fellow Catholics. Commander Amalric solved this problem with a few brutal, chilling, cruel, words: “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius — Kill them all, God will know His own.”
Almaric gave an order to kill the entire population of a city without hesitation in such a casual and straightforward manner — that is chilling to say the least.
Here’s a historian’s account:
“When they discovered, from the admissions of some of them, that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics they said to the abbot “Sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics.” The abbot, like the others, was afraid that many, in fear of death, would pretend to be Catholics, and after their departure, would return to their heresy, and is said to have replied “Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius - Kill them all for the Lord knoweth them that are His” (2 Tim. ii. 19) and so countless number in that town were slain.”
The crusaders proceeded to massacre the entire population of Béziers. Christians murdering tens of thousands of other Christians in the name of God — “He’ll know His own.”
