Al`bi*gen"ses (#), Al`bi`geois" (#), n. pl. [From Albi and Albigeois, a town and its district in the south of France, in which the sect abounded.] Eccl. Hist.
A sect of reformers opposed to the church of Rome in the 12th centuries.
The Albigenses were a branch of the Catharists (the pure). They were exterminated by crusades and the Inquisition. They were distinct from the Waldenses.
© Webster 1913.