The Cathars: Where did Catharism come from ? From a few certain pieces of evidence and a mass of circumstantial evidence, it seems likely that Catharism represented a very ancient Dualist belief from the East.
Perhaps the easiest way to trace the origins of the Cathar Church is to work back from the Languedoc. Catharism appeared in Western Europe in the eleventh century. Cathars beliefs seemed to have popped up around the same time in many countries, not only the Languedoc but also France, the Netherlands and various German states. They almost certainly spread from Northern Italy, carried by travellers, merchants and probably Cathar preachers - Parfaits. Certainly the Cathar Church was already well established in Northern Italy.
Cathari. Cathars and Cathar Beliefs in the Languedoc. Catharism. Christian dualist movement that thrived in some areas of Southern Europe Catharism (; from the Greek: καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure [ones]")[2] was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly what is now northern Italy and southern France.
Followers were known as Cathars, or Good Christians, and are now mainly remembered for a prolonged period of persecution by the Catholic Church, which did not recognise their unorthodox Christianity.