"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." is a phrase reportedly spoken by the commander of the Albigensian Crusade, prior to the massacre at Béziers on 22 July 1209.[1] A direct translation of the Medieval Latin phrase is "Kill them, for the Lord knows those that are His". Papal legate and Cistercian abbot Arnaud Amalric was the military commander of the Crusade in its initial phase and leader of this first major military action of the Crusade, the assault on Béziers, and was reported by Caesarius of Heisterbach to have uttered the order.[1]
Less formal English translations have given rise to variants such as "Kill them all; let God sort them out." Some modern sources give the quotation as Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoscet, evidently a translation from English back into Latin, and so omitting a biblical reference to 2 Timothy 2:19 evident in the original.[2]