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Secrets of Montsegur Castle. France

Original taken from geogen_mir in SECRETS OF CIVILIZATION. The Cathars and the Mystery of Montsegur Castle

Folk legends assigned the name to the pentagonal castle of Montsegur - “Cursed place on the holy mountain.” The castle itself is located on a hill in southwestern France. It was built on the site of a sanctuary that existed in pre-Christian times. The hill itself was small, but had steep slopes, so the castle was considered impregnable (in the ancient dialect the name Montsegur sounds like Montsur - Reliable Mountain).

Legends and tales about the knight Parsifal, the Holy Grail and, of course, the magical castle of Montsegur are associated with this region. The surroundings of Montsegur amaze with their mystery and mysticism. Tragic historical events are also associated with Montsegur.

In 1944, during stubborn and bloody battles, the Allies occupied positions recaptured from the Germans. Especially many French and English soldiers died at the strategically important height of Monte Cassino, trying to take possession of the Mosegur castle, where the remnants of the 10th German army settled. The siege of the castle lasted 4 months. Finally, after massive bombing and landings, the Allies launched a decisive assault.

The castle was destroyed almost to the ground. However, the Germans continued to resist, although their fate had already been decided. When the Allied soldiers approached the walls of Montsegur, something inexplicable happened. A large flag with an ancient pagan symbol - the Celtic cross - hoisted on one of the towers.

This ancient Germanic ritual was usually resorted to only when the help of higher powers was needed. But everything was in vain, and nothing could help the invaders.

This incident was far from the only one in the long and mystical history of the castle. And it began in the 6th century, when a monastery was founded by Saint Benedict in 1529 on Mount Cassino, considered a sacred place since pre-Christian times. Cassino was not very high and was more like a hill, but its slopes were steep - it was on such mountains that in the old days impregnable castles were built. It is not for nothing that in the classical French dialect Montsegur sounds like Mont-sur - Reliable Mountain.

850 years ago, one of the most dramatic episodes in European history took place at Montsegur Castle. The Inquisition of the Holy See and the army of the French king Louis IX waged a siege of the castle for almost a year. But they were never able to cope with the two hundred Cathar heretics who had settled in it. The defenders of the castle could have repented and left in peace, but instead they chose to voluntarily go to the stake, thereby keeping their mysterious faith pure.

And to this day there is no clear answer to the question: where did the Cathar heresy penetrate into southern France? Its first traces appeared in these parts in the 11th century. At that time, the southern part of the country, which was part of the Languedoc county, stretching from Aquitaine to Provence and from the Pyrenees to Crecy, was practically independent.

This vast territory was ruled by Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. Nominally he was considered a vassal of the French and Aragonese kings, as well as the Holy Roman Emperor, but in nobility, wealth and power he was not inferior to any of his overlords.

While Catholicism dominated in the north of France, the dangerous Cathar heresy was spreading more and more widely in the possessions of the counts of Toulouse. According to some historians, it penetrated there from Italy, which, in turn, borrowed this religious teaching from the Bulgarian Bogomils, and they from the Manichaeans of Asia Minor and Syria. The number of those who were later called Cathars (in Greek - “pure”) multiplied like mushrooms after rain.

“There is not one god, there are two who dispute dominance over the world. This is the god of good and the god of evil. The immortal spirit of humanity is directed towards the god of good, but its mortal shell reaches out to the dark god,” this is what the Cathars taught. At the same time, they considered our earthly world to be the kingdom of Evil, and the heavenly world, where the souls of people live, as a space in which Good triumphs. Therefore, the Cathars easily parted with their lives, rejoicing at the transition of their souls to the domains of Good and Light.

Strange people in the pointed caps of Chaldean astrologers, in clothes belted with rope, traveled along the dusty roads of France - the Cathars preached their teachings everywhere. The so-called “perfects”—ascetics of the faith who took a vow of asceticism—took on such an honorable mission. They completely broke with their previous life, renounced property, and adhered to food and ritual prohibitions. But all the secrets of the teaching were revealed to them.

Another group of Cathars included the so-called “laymen”, that is, ordinary followers. They lived an ordinary life, cheerful and noisy, they sinned like all people, but at the same time they reverently kept the few commandments that the “perfect” ones taught them.

The knights and nobility especially readily accepted the new faith. Most of the noble families in Toulouse, Languedoc, Gascony, and Rousillon became its adherents. They did not recognize the Catholic Church, considering it the spawn of the devil. Such a confrontation could only end in bloodshed...

The first clash between Catholics and heretics took place on January 14, 1208 on the banks of the Rhone, when, during the crossing, one of the squires of Raymond VI mortally wounded the papal nuncio with a spear. Dying, the priest whispered to his killer: “May the Lord forgive you, as I forgive.” But the Catholic Church did not forgive anything. In addition, French monarchs had long had their sights on the rich County of Toulouse: both Philip II and Louis VIII dreamed of annexing the richest lands to their possessions.

The Count of Toulouse was declared a heretic and a follower of Satan. The Catholic bishops shouted: “The Cathars are vile heretics! We must burn them out with fire, so that no seed remains...” For this purpose, the Holy Inquisition was created, which the Pope subordinated to the Dominican Order - these “dogs of the Lord” (Dominicanus - domini canus - Lord's dogs).

Thus a crusade was declared, which for the first time was directed not so much against infidels as against Christian lands. It is interesting that when asked by a soldier how to distinguish the Cathars from good Catholics, the papal legate Arnold da Sato replied: “Kill everyone: God will recognize his own!”

The crusaders devastated the flourishing southern region. In the city of Beziers alone, having driven the inhabitants to the Church of St. Nazarius, they killed 20 thousand people. The Cathars were slaughtered in entire cities. The lands of Raymond VI of Toulouse were taken from him.

In 1243, the only stronghold of the Cathars remained only the ancient Montsegur - their sanctuary, turned into a military citadel. Almost all the surviving “perfects” gathered here. They did not have the right to carry weapons, since, in accordance with their teachings, they were considered a direct symbol of evil.

However, this small (two hundred people) unarmed garrison fought off attacks by a 10,000-strong crusader army for almost 11 months! What happened on a tiny spot on the top of the mountain became known thanks to the surviving recordings of interrogations of the surviving defenders of the castle. They conceal an amazing story of courage and perseverance of the Cathars, which still amazes the imagination of historians. Yes, and there is enough mysticism in it.

Bishop Bertrand Marty, who organized the defense of the castle, was well aware that its surrender was inevitable. Therefore, even before Christmas 1243, he sent two faithful servants from the fortress, who carried with them a certain treasure of the Cathars. They say that it is still hidden in one of the many grottoes in the county of Foix.

On March 2, 1244, when the situation of the besieged became unbearable, the bishop began to negotiate with the crusaders. He had no intention of surrendering the fortress, but he really needed a reprieve. And he got it. During two weeks of respite, the besieged manage to drag a heavy catapult onto a tiny rocky platform. And the day before the castle is handed over, an almost incredible event occurs.

At night, four “perfect ones” descend on a rope from a mountain 1200 meters high and take with them a certain package. The crusaders hastily set out in pursuit, but the fugitives seemed to disappear into thin air. Soon two of them showed up in Cremona. They proudly talked about the successful outcome of their mission, but what they managed to save is still unknown.
Only the Cathars, fanatics and mystics, doomed to death, would hardly risk their lives for the sake of gold and silver. And what kind of load could four desperate “perfects” carry? This means that the “treasure” of the Cathars was of a different nature.

Montsegur has always been a holy place for the “perfect”. It was they who erected a pentagonal castle on the top of the mountain, asking the former owner, their co-religionist Ramon de Pirella, for permission to rebuild the fortress according to their drawings. Here, in deep secrecy, the Cathars performed their rituals and kept sacred relics.

The walls and embrasures of Montsegur were strictly oriented according to the cardinal points, like Stonehenge, so the “perfect” could calculate the days of the solstice. The architecture of the castle makes a strange impression. Inside the fortress you feel like you are on a ship: a low, square tower at one end, long walls enclosing a narrow space in the middle, and a blunt prow reminiscent of the stem of a caravel.

The remains of some now incomprehensible structures are piled up at one end of the narrow courtyard. Now all that remains is their foundations. They look either like the base of stone cisterns for collecting water, or like entrances to filled-in dungeons.

How many books have been written about the strange architecture of the castle without trying to interpret its resemblance to a ship! It was seen as both a temple of sun worshipers and a forerunner of Masonic lodges. However, so far the castle has not given up any of its secrets.

Directly opposite the main entrance, an equally narrow and low passage was made in the second wall. It leads to the opposite end of the platform crowning the mountain. There is barely enough space here for a narrow path that stretches along the wall and ends in an abyss.

800 years ago, it was along this path and on the steep slopes of the mountain near the top that stone and wooden buildings were built, in which lived the defenders of Montsegur, selected Cathars, members of their families and peasants from the village lying at the foot of the mountain. How did they survive here, on this tiny spot, under a piercing wind, showered with a hail of huge stones, with melting supplies of food and water? Mystery. Now there are no traces left of these flimsy buildings.

In August 1964, speleologists discovered some icons, notches and a drawing on one of the walls. It turned out to be a plan for an underground passage running from the foot of the wall to the gorge. Then the passage itself was opened, in which skeletons with halberds were found. New mystery: who were these people who died in the dungeon? Under the foundation of the wall, researchers discovered several interesting objects with Qatari symbols printed on them.

The buckles and buttons featured a bee. For the “perfect” it symbolized the mystery of fertilization without physical contact. A strange lead plate 40 centimeters long was also found, folded into a pentagon, which was considered the distinctive sign of the “perfect” apostles. The Cathars did not recognize the Latin cross and deified the pentagon - a symbol of dispersion, dispersion of matter, the human body (this, apparently, is where the strange architecture of Montsegur comes from).

Analyzing it, a prominent specialist on the Cathars, Fernand Niel, emphasized that it was in the castle itself that “the key to the rituals was laid - a secret that the “perfect” took with them to the grave.”

There are still many enthusiasts who are looking for buried treasures, gold and jewelry of the Cathars in the surrounding area and on Mount Cassino itself. But most of all, researchers are interested in the shrine that was saved from desecration by four brave men. Some suggest that the “perfect ones” were in possession of the famous Grail. It’s not without reason that even now in the Pyrenees you can hear the following legend:

“When the walls of Montsegur still stood, the Cathars guarded the Holy Grail. But Montsegur was in danger. The armies of Lucifer settled under its walls. They needed the Grail to re-enclose it in the crown of their lord, from which it had fallen when the fallen angel was cast from heaven to earth. At the moment of greatest danger for Montsegur, a dove appeared from the sky and split Mount Tabor with its beak. The Guardian of the Grail threw a valuable relic into the depths of the mountain. The mountain closed and the Grail was saved."

For some, the Grail is the vessel in which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ, for others it is the dish of the Last Supper, for others it is something like a cornucopia. And in the legend of Montsegur he appears in the form of a golden image of Noah's Ark. According to legend, the Grail had magical properties: it could heal people from serious illnesses and reveal secret knowledge to them. The Holy Grail could only be seen by those who were pure in soul and heart, and it brought down great misfortunes on the wicked.

Today, almost nothing remains of the once impregnable citadel: only fragments of dilapidated walls, piles of stones whitened by rain, somehow cleared courtyards with the remains of stairs and towers. But this is what gives it a special flavor, as well as the difficult climb to it along a narrow mountain path. However, there is a museum in the castle where you can watch a video reconstruction of the home and life of the Cathars.

So who are the CATARS?

A number of legends are associated with the Cathar movement, reflected in works of European art and folklore. From the Age of Enlightenment to the present day, Catharism is assessed by most researchers as the most serious opponent of the Roman Catholic Church before the Reformation, which largely influenced the religious processes of the 14th-16th centuries. Traditional history claims that a new Christian faith, whose supporters were called Cathars, arose in Western Europe in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The Cathar position was especially strong in the Albi region in southern France. Therefore, they got another name - Albigensians. Historians believe that the Cathar religion was closely connected with the ideas of the Bulgarian sect - the Bogomils.

As encyclopedias report, Bulgarian Bogomilism of the eleventh century and Catharism known in the West from the twelfth to the fourteenth centuries are one and the same religion. It is believed that, coming from the east, the Cathar heresy developed in Bulgaria, and the name Bulgarians was retained as the name used to describe its original origin. Religious historians and priests believe that both Bogomilism and the beliefs of the Cathars contained serious contradictions with the tenets of Christianity. For example, they were accused of allegedly refusing to recognize the sacraments and the main dogma of Christianity - the triune God.

On this basis, the Catholic Church declared the beliefs of the Cathars to be heresy. And opposition to Catharism was for a long time the main policy of the popes. Despite the many years of struggle of the Catholic Church against the Cathars, among their many supporters there were a large number of Catholics. They were attracted by both the everyday and religious lifestyle of the Cathars. Moreover, many Catholic believers belonged to both churches. Both Catholic and Qatari. And in areas where Catharism had a great influence, there were never religious clashes. Historians claim that the confrontation between the Cathars and Catholics reached its climax, allegedly at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

Especially to combat heretics, Pope Innocent III established a church inquisition, and then authorized a crusade against the Qatari regions. The campaign was led by the papal legate Arnaud Amaury. However, the local population of the Qatari regions supported their legitimate rulers and actively resisted the crusaders. This confrontation resulted in a twenty-year war that completely devastated the south of France. Subsequently, historians wrote that these battles were too numerous to list. The Cathars defended themselves especially fiercely in Toulouse and Carcassonne. The intensity of these battles can be judged from one source that has come down to us from ancient times.

The Crusader warriors turned to Arnaud Amaury with the question of how to distinguish a heretic from a devout Catholic? To which the abbot replied “kill everyone, God will recognize his own.” In this war, the Cathars and their supporters from among the Catholic feudal lords were defeated. And the systematic repression that followed ended with the complete defeat of the Cathar movement. In the end, the Cathars disappeared from the historical scene of the Middle Ages, and their majestic castle-fortresses were destroyed by the victors.

The mysterious destruction of Qatari castles

So, the traditional historical version claims that the confrontation between secular and ecclesiastical authorities with the Cathars is an event of the thirteenth century. In the same era, the castles of the vanquished were also destroyed. However, there is plenty of evidence that back in the seventeenth century, Qatari castles existed. And not as monuments of forgotten antiquity, but as active military fortresses. Historians have their own explanation for this. They say that after the barbaric destruction, the French authorities restored the castles and made them their military fortresses. The castles remained in this capacity until the beginning of the seventeenth century. And then they were destroyed again for the second time. Purely theoretically, this is probably possible: destroyed, restored, destroyed again, restored again. But in practice, restoration and even destruction of such gigantic structures is very expensive. But in this strange version proposed by historians, what is surprising is not only the ordinary fate of these fortresses, but also the fact that all these metamorphoses occurred only with Qatari castles. Here, for example, is what historians say about the fate of the Qatari castle Rokfixat.

It turns out that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, after the defeat of the Cathars, it was a functioning royal fortress. And, of course, the royal garrison served in well-equipped fortifications, and not on gray ruins. But the following story resembles a bad joke. Allegedly in 1632, King Louis 13, heading from Paris to Toulouse, passed by this castle. He stopped and stood in thought for some time. And then he suddenly ordered the castle to be completely destroyed, since it was no longer of any use and it had become too expensive to maintain. Although if the royal treasury really turned out to be unable to maintain the castle in a combat-ready condition, then it would be natural to simply recall the garrison, board up the barracks and leave the castle to collapse under the influence of time and bad weather. So, for example, quietly and naturally, according to traditional history, the castle of Perpituso collapsed. Most likely, this semi-fantastic story was invented by Scaligerian historians, after 1632, in order to somehow explain the true reasons for the destruction of the castle during the wars of the first half of the seventeenth century. They could not admit that in fact the crusades against the Cathars were waged in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. After all, historians have already sent these events back to the thirteenth century. That's why they had to make up an absurd fable about the king's strange order.

But if historians came up with at least such an absurd explanation for the ruins of Roquefixada, then they didn’t come up with anything at all about Montsegur Castle. It is known that it was an active royal fortress until the sixteenth century, and then it was allegedly simply abandoned. But if the king did not give the order to destroy it, why did the castle end up in such a deplorable state. After all, today they are just ruins.

Only the outer belt of the walls survived from the castle. There can be no question that such a structure could collapse on its own. Even today you can see how strong it was. Huge stone blocks are neatly fitted to each other and firmly welded with cement. The massive walls and towers are a single stone monolith. Such walls do not fall apart on their own. To destroy them, you need gunpowder and cannons. But why was it necessary to spend so much effort and money on destroying these powerful fortifications, even if they had lost their strategic purpose? Historians cannot answer this question.

Cathars. New chronology version

As we have already said, secular and Christian historians believe that the beliefs of the Cathars are closely related to the ideas of the religious Bulgarian sect of the Bogomils. Just like Catharism, the Christian Church considers the teachings of the Bogomils to be heresy. It is known that the religious teachings of the Bogomils came to Bulgaria from the east. But who were these people and where exactly did they come from? In the history of Paul the Deacon and in the chronicles of the dukes and princes of Benivena, there is such information. These peoples were Bulgars, who came from that part of Sarmatia, which is irrigated by the Volga. This means that the Bogomils came from the Volga, which is why they were called Bulgars, that is, Volgars or Bulgarians. And the territory of their settlement began to be called Bulgaria. In the thirteenth century the great Mongol conquest began.

Maps compiled by modern historians show the distribution of the Bogomil Cathars. Spain, France, England, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Balkans. The Cathars came to western Europe in the wake of the great conquest of the fourteenth century and remained there until the seventeenth century. Until the victory of the Reformation rebellion. After the victory of the Reformation rebellion, Western European rebels began a fierce struggle with the Rus-horde and with the remnants of people from Rus'. With the remnants of the Russian-Horde troops, including the Tatars. And some of the crusades that supposedly took place in the thirteenth century and were directed against the Cathars in western Europe were actually seventeenth-century campaigns in which the Cathars were defeated and destroyed. This version answers the question of who built more than a hundred castles called Qatari.

It is quite obvious that it was not possible for a large national state to build such a powerful network of military fortifications. Moreover, such fortresses could not be built, and most importantly maintained, by petty princes and barons. Only a very strong and rich state could afford this. Qatari castles were strongholds of the Russian-Horde empire in the territories of Western Europe it conquered and colonized. It was a vast network of fortifications that controlled all movement throughout Western Europe. During the Reformation rebellion, all these castles were captured and destroyed by the rebels. In the surviving documents it was discovered that these castles, the Cathar castles, stood completely undamaged until the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

They were defeated only starting in the second half of the seventeenth century. Although historians today claim that these castles were destroyed a long time ago, in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Of course, texts written by the inhabitants of the castles themselves could completely restore the picture of those events. But after their defeat, there were practically no written documents left. Historians say that the Cathar writings were probably quite numerous. However, severe persecution led to the disappearance of most of the texts, as the Catholic Church subjected Catharism to the most horrific repression. Indeed, for the rebel reformers, not only living bearers of the idea of the great Cathar empire were dangerous, but also any material evidence of the lives of these people, their true purpose and faith.

Are the Cathars heretics or saints?

In the modern world, attitudes towards the Cathars are mixed. On the one hand, in southern France the loud and tragic story of the unconquered Cathars is widely advertised. Qatari cities and castles, the story of the fires of the Inquisition, attract the attention of tourists. On the other hand, they constantly emphasize that Catharism is a very harmful heresy and it existed for so long that not a trace remains of it. Meanwhile, images of Qatari and Christian symbols are still preserved in some Gothic cathedrals in France.

This is what a Qatari cross looks like, inscribed in a circle. The same crosses can be seen in the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Moreover, Qatari crosses are present here even in two types. Both flat and prominently convex. They are depicted on stone sculptures, on mosaics, on stained glass windows, on the main columns inside the temple. Even above the main entrance to the cathedral on the central portal, with the image of the Last Judgment, there is a sculptural image of Christ. Behind his head on the wall is a stone Qatari cross. Let us compare this image with Orthodox icons, which usually depict a halo behind the head of Christ, and a cross against the background of the halo. As you can see, these images are almost identical. This means there is nothing heretical in the Qatari cross. Why then has the Christian Church been claiming for several centuries that the Cathar faith is a heresy?

Are Qatari symbols heretical? And why are these symbols proudly displayed not in some provincial church, but on the colonnade of one of the most important churches not only in Paris, but throughout France. Today it is believed that the construction of the cathedral began in the thirteenth century. Moreover, historians emphasize that it was built during the era of the fight against the Cathars. But why, while fighting them, did the church allow the walls of churches to be covered with the crosses of their enemies - the heretics of the Cathars? Is it because Catharism was not a heresy at all, but completely Orthodox Christianity of that time? But after the victory of the Reformation rebellion, as often happens, the victors declared the vanquished heretics. Today, even on the pages of textbooks, the Cathars are presented as heretics who needed to be destroyed. It was all done simply on paper. This is pure paper political and ideological activity of the seventeenth century. In fact, in life this was not at all like that. It was Orthodox Christianity, and its symbols were Orthodox. The appearance of Qatari crosses also corresponds to Orthodox crosses from Russian churches of the fifteenth century.

So who were the Cathars?

The Cathars are conquerors who came to Western Europe from the Russian horde of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. They were not heretics and professed Orthodox Christianity, the single religion of the entire empire at that time. In the seventeenth century, during the rebellion of the Reformation, the Cathars remained completely faithful to their faith, their ideas, and the idea of a great empire. They fought to the last against the rebels in Western Europe. Unfortunately, the Cathars were not the only and not the last victims

Mount Montségur (Château de Montségur) was designated as a must-see for my trip to Provence.

It is believed that in ancient times there was a temple of the sun here; later, during the dark Middle Ages, Montsegur became a fortress (the name of the mountain itself translates as “impregnable”) and the last refuge of the Cathars - an alternative Christian doctrine, the followers of which were destroyed during the Albigensian Crusade () .

However, Montsegur attracted (and, by the way, continues to attract) wanderers and mystery seekers because, according to local legends, this is where the Holy Grail was kept, or at least this is where it was last seen.

Many people believe in the legend, for example, researcher Otto Rahn, the author of the book “The Crusade against the Grail”, which inspired Dan Brown to write the novel “The Da Vinci Code”, spent several years in the mountains near Montsegur, trying to find out how true the ancient legend is.

In the photo: a stone with the names of the crusaders carved on it

Getting to Montsegur without a car is almost impossible. The path to the impregnable fortress lies along the roads of less steep mountains, located at a considerable distance from the routes of any public transport. The mountain itself, when you find yourself at its foot, looks like a large lump. You can climb to the top only on foot; the narrow paths are not intended for cars.

Officially, the entrance to Montsegur is open until 19.00, but in practice this means that a person in a booth located in the middle of the walk up the mountain sells tickets to enter the fortress until seven o’clock in the evening. At 19.00 his working day ends, he goes home, and entry to Montsegur becomes free; that is why, with the onset of twilight, the number of people wishing to climb the mountain does not decrease, but rather increases, and climbing to the top with the onset of evening coolness is still more pleasant.

In the photo: climbing to the top of Montsegur

Having overcome the first, most sloping part of the climb, we find ourselves on a field of fires. It received its telling name after the events of March 1244, when more than 200 Cathars, the last defenders of the Montsegur fortress, were burned here.

When Pope Innocent III announced the beginning of the Crusade against the Albigensian heresy in 1208, there were about a million people professing this belief in Provence and Languedoc.

In the photo: map of the spread of Catharism in Europe

Being essentially followers of the teachings of Christ, the Cathars believed that our world is the creation of the hands not of God, but of Satan, we live more than once, but are constantly reincarnated after death into other bodies (which is why many Cathars were vegetarians), and heaven can only be achieved in the event that one rejects everything earthly, then a person leaves the chain of reincarnation and joins Paradise - the world created by God.

For more than a decade of the Crusades, the army of Rome managed to destroy the population professing Catharcism in almost all cities of southern France, and at the same time establish the Inquisition, which later became “famous” for its witch hunts.

The last followers of Catharism took refuge in the fortress of Montsegur, which the leader of the Pope's army, Simon de Montfort, tried to take at the beginning of the wars, but he never succeeded. In the summer of 1243, the crusade army again stormed Montsegur (the reason for this was the murder of several inquisitors by the pope's opponents). The mountain was taken into a tight ring, and the defenders of the fortress were under siege. Montsegur held out under siege for a year; such a long period of time was explained, among other things, by the fact that the defenders of the fortress knew secret paths that allowed them to supply provisions to the castle.

However, the crusade army managed to approach the walls of the fortress, and on March 16, 1244, Montsegur was forced to surrender. The crusaders offered the Cathars a pardon if they renounced their beliefs, but there were no people willing to do this. Now at the site of the mass execution there is a Qatari cross, reminiscent of the tragedy.

Next is a long hike up the mountain along narrow paths lined with stones. During the ascent, it becomes clear why Simon de Montfort, who took all the fortresses in the area, was unable to conquer Montsegur: the catapults, which were the main weapon for bombing the fortress walls, cannot be pushed up the mountain so easily. And the crusaders managed to surround the castle walls only after the traitors showed them secret paths, without knowing which it was almost impossible to climb up.

Now all that remains of the fortress itself are ruins: walls made of gray stones, where lizards live, and the foundations of a tower - time has completed what was started by the crusaders, and the invaders, by order of the Pope, destroyed the fortress almost to the ground.

In the photo: the fortress walls of Montsegur, preserved to this day

It is believed that it was behind these walls that the beautiful maiden Esclarmonde kept an ancient relic - the Holy Grail, however, when the fortress fell, the Grail was not discovered by the crusaders. Local residents tell a legend that on the night before the assault on the fortress, the bowels of one of the mountains opened up, and Esclarmonde threw the Holy Grail into their depths, after which the girl turned into a dove and flew away to the east.

However, even the crusaders did not believe in the veracity of this legend. They, presumably, not without reason, believed that on the night before the assault, several people with treasure climbed down the steep wall of the fortress and took refuge in the surrounding forests (this version is also presented in the Soviet film “The Casket of Marie de’ Medici”). One way or another, no one has seen the Grail since then, and no one even knows exactly what it looks like.

We met the sunset at the walls of the fortress. The view from the top is especially beautiful in the evening: the sun, descending, gilds the green tops of the mountains, over which flocks of swallows fly, a light gray haze of fog rising from the ground twitches the piercing blue sky with a silvery translucent veil. Despite all the tragic events that took place here, Montsegur does not give the impression of a gloomy place. Rather mysterious and immensely sad.

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Yulia Malkova- Yulia Malkova - founder of the website project. In the past, he was the editor-in-chief of the elle.ru Internet project and the editor-in-chief of the cosmo.ru website. I talk about travel for my own pleasure and the pleasure of my readers. If you are a representative of hotels or a tourism office, but we do not know each other, you can contact me by email: [email protected]

“A cursed place on the holy mountain,” as folk legends say about the pentagonal Montsegur castle. The south-west of France, where it is located, is generally a wonderland, replete with majestic ruins, legends and tales of the “knight of honor” Parsifal, the Holy Grail Cup and, of course, the magical Montsegur. In their mysticism and mystery, these places are comparable only to German Brocken. To what tragic events does Montsegur owe its fame?

“Then I will open it for you,” said the hermit. “The one who is appointed to sit in this place has not yet been conceived or born, but not even a year will pass before the one who will occupy the Perilous Seat will be conceived, and he will obtain the Holy Grail.”
Thomas Malory. Death of Arthur

This ancient Germanic ritual was usually resorted to only when the help of higher powers was needed. But everything was in vain, and nothing could help the invaders.

And to this day there is no clear answer to the question: where did it penetrate into southern France? Qatari heresy? Its first traces appeared in these parts in the 11th century. At that time, the southern part of the country, which was part of the Languedoc county, stretching from Aquitaine to Provence and from the Pyrenees to Crecy, was practically independent.

“When the walls of Montsegur still stood, the Cathars guarded the Holy Grail. But Montsegur was in danger. The armies of Lucifer settled under its walls. They needed the Grail to re-enclose it in the crown of their lord, from which it had fallen when the fallen angel was cast from heaven to earth. At the moment of greatest danger for Montsegur, a dove appeared from the sky and split Mount Tabor with its beak. The Guardian of the Grail threw a valuable relic into the depths of the mountain. The mountain closed and the Grail was saved."

“A cursed place on the holy mountain,” this is what folk legends say about the pentagonal castle of Montsegur. The southwest of France, where it is located, is generally a wonderland, replete with majestic ruins, legends and tales of the “knight of honor” Parsifal, the Holy Grail Cup and, of course, the magical Montsegur. In their mysticism and mystery, these places are comparable only to the German Brocken. To what tragic events does Montsegur owe its fame?

“Then I will open it for you,” said the hermit. “The one who is appointed to sit in this place has not yet been conceived or born, but not even a year will pass before the one who will occupy the Perilous Seat will be conceived, and he will obtain the Holy Grail.”

This ancient Germanic ritual was usually resorted to only when the help of higher powers was needed. But everything was in vain, and nothing could help the invaders.

This incident was far from the only one in the long and mystical history of the castle. And it began in the 6th century, when a monastery was founded by Saint Benedict in 1529 on Mount Cassino, considered a sacred place since pre-Christian times. Cassino was not very high and was more like a hill, but its slopes were steep - it was on such mountains that impregnable castles were built in the old days. It is not for nothing that in the classical French dialect Montsegur sounds like Mont-sur - Reliable Mountain.

While Catholicism dominated in the north of France, the dangerous Cathar heresy was spreading more and more widely in the possessions of the counts of Toulouse. According to some historians, it penetrated there from Italy, which, in turn, borrowed this religious teaching from the Bulgarian Bogomils, and those from the Manichaeans of Asia Minor and Syria. The number of those who were later called Cathars (in Greek - “pure”) multiplied like mushrooms after rain.

Strange people in the pointed caps of Chaldean astrologers, in clothes belted with rope, traveled along the dusty roads of France - the Cathars preached their teachings everywhere. The so-called “perfects” - devotees of faith who took a vow of asceticism - took on such an honorable mission. They completely broke with their previous life, renounced property, and adhered to food and ritual prohibitions. But all the secrets of the teaching were revealed to them.

The Count of Toulouse was declared a heretic and a follower of Satan. Catholic bishops shouted: “The Cathars are vile heretics! It is necessary to burn them out with fire, so that no seed remains...” For this purpose, the Holy Inquisition was created, which the Pope subordinated to the Dominican Order - these “dogs of the Lord” (Dominicanus - domini canus - the Lord's dogs).

At night, four “perfect ones” descend on a rope from a mountain 1200 meters high and take with them a certain package. The crusaders hastily set out in pursuit, but the fugitives seemed to disappear into thin air. Soon two of them showed up in Cremona. They proudly talked about the successful outcome of their mission, but what they managed to save is still unknown.
Only it is unlikely that the Cathars, fanatics and mystics, doomed to death, would risk their lives for the sake of gold and silver. And what kind of load could four desperate “perfects” carry? This means that the “treasure” of the Cathars was of a different nature.

“When the walls of Montsegur still stood, the Cathars guarded the Holy Grail. But Montsegur was in danger. The armies of Lucifer settled under its walls. They needed the Grail to re-enclose it in the crown of their lord, from which it had fallen when the fallen angel was cast from heaven to earth. At the moment of greatest danger for Montsegur, a dove appeared from the sky and split Mount Tabor with its beak. The Guardian of the Grail threw a valuable relic into the depths of the mountain. The mountain closed and the Grail was saved."

Some scientists believe that the secret of the Cathars lay in the knowledge of hidden facts from the earthly life of Jesus Christ. They allegedly had information about his earthly wife and children, who, after the crucifixion of the Savior, were secretly transported to the south of Gaul. According to legend, the blood of Jesus was collected in the Holy Grail.

The Gospel Magdalene, a mysterious person who was probably his wife, took part in this. It is known that she reached Europe, from which it follows that the descendants of the Savior founded the Merovingian dynasty, that is, the family of the Holy Grail.

According to legend, after Montsegur the Holy Grail was taken to the castle of Montreal de Saux. From there he migrated to one of the cathedrals of Aragon. He was then allegedly taken to the Vatican. But there is no documentary evidence of this. Or maybe the sacred relic has returned to its sanctuary - Montsegur?

It was not for nothing that Hitler, who dreamed of world domination, so persistently and purposefully organized the search for the Holy Grail in the Pyrenees. German agents explored all the abandoned castles, monasteries and temples there, as well as mountain caves. But everything was to no avail...

Hitler hoped to use this sacred relic to turn the tide of the war. But even if the Fuhrer managed to take possession of it, it is unlikely that this would have saved him from defeat, as well as those German soldiers who tried to protect themselves within the walls of Montsegur with the help of an ancient Celtic cross. After all, according to legend, the unrighteous keepers of the Holy Grail and those who sow Evil and death on earth are overtaken by God's wrath.

The bishop and deacons barely had time, amid the roar, clanging of weapons and groans of the wounded, to run from one dying person to another to perform the dying rites. Bernard Rohen, the Catalan Pierre Ferrier, Sergeant Bernard from Carcassonne, Arnaud from Vence died that night “in consolation.” With a last effort the garrison drove the enemy back to the barbican. Taking into account the peculiarities of the location of the battlefield, which literally hung in emptiness, one can guess that the number of dead far exceeded the number of wounded who managed to reach the castle.

The morning after the tragic night, a horn sounded from the wall of the fortress. Raymond de Perella and Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix requested negotiations.

Negotiations began on March 1, 1244. After more than nine months of siege, Montsegur capitulated. The crusaders, themselves exhausted by a long siege, did not bargain for a long time. The terms of surrender were as follows:

The defenders of the fortress remain there for another 15 days and release the hostages.

All crimes are forgiven, including the Avignonette affair.

Warriors can leave, taking weapons and things, after confessing to the inquisitor. The lightest repentance will be imposed on them.

All others in the fortress will also be released and subject to light punishment if they renounce heresy and repent before the Inquisition. Those who do not renounce will be consigned to the fire.

The castle of Montsegur comes into the possession of the king and the Church.

The conditions were, in general, quite good; it would have been difficult to achieve better: thanks to their steadfastness and heroism, the people of Montsegur managed to avoid execution and life imprisonment. Participants in the Avignonet massacre were guaranteed not only life, but also freedom.

Why did the Church, represented by its representative who took part in the siege, agree to forgive such a terrible crime? After all, the guilt of the murderers of Guillaume-Arnaud should have been equated with the guilt of the heretics. Most likely, the ground was already prepared if both sides came to an agreement on this issue so quickly. The negotiations that the Count of Toulouse endlessly conducted through messengers with the besieged were supposed to concern, among others, the Avignonette case.

In fact, during the siege, the count conducted active negotiations with the pope, seeking to lift the excommunication imposed on him the day after the massacre, of which he declared himself innocent. At the end of 1243, Pope Innocent IV revoked Brother Ferrier's maxim, declaring that the count was his "faithful son and devoted Catholic." The excommunication imposed by the Archbishop of Narbonne was lifted on March 14, 1244, two years before the capture of Montségur by the royal army. Perhaps the coincidence of dates is accidental, but it is possible that there was a close connection between the count’s demarches and the fate of Montsegur’s people, especially Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix, who was very interested in the successful development of the count’s affairs. The count asked the besieged to hold out as long as possible, not in order to send them reinforcements (he did not even think about this), but in order to earn forgiveness for Avignonet. The testimony of Montsegur's people could have compromised many of those below (including the count himself), but none of them were touched.

On the other hand, the personal valor of the defenders and the need to finally end the siege, which would have dragged on even if the besieged had not received forgiveness, could have forced Hugues des Arcis to put pressure on the archbishop and on Brother Ferrier. The French were clearly not inclined to overestimate the political crime that was the Avignonette murder. Perhaps they were beginning to understand the situation in the country and the feelings of the local population. Montsegur's soldiers fought bravely and were entitled to the respect of the enemy.

A truce was concluded in Montsegur. For fifteen days the enemy was not allowed into the fortress; For fifteen days, according to the word given, both sides remained in their positions, without attempting to flee or attack. Bishop Durant's catapult was dismantled, sentries no longer walked along the earthen rampart, and soldiers no longer had to be on alert all the time. Montsegur lived his last days of freedom peacefully - if waiting for separation and death can be called peace under the vigilant surveillance of the enemy from a tower a hundred meters from the castle.

Compared to the tragic hours that they had to endure, days of peace came for the inhabitants of Montsegur. For many of them it was their last. One can only guess why this delay was stipulated, which only prolongs the unbearable existence of the inhabitants of the castle. Perhaps this was explained by the fact that the Archbishop of Narbonne could not take responsibility for acquitting the murderers of the inquisitors and considered it necessary to report to the pope? Most likely, the besieged themselves asked for a delay in order to spend some time with those whom they would not see again. Or maybe (and this opinion is shared by F. Niel), Bishop Bertrand Marty and his comrades wanted to celebrate the holiday that corresponded to Easter for the last time before their death. It is known that the Cathars celebrated this holiday, for one of their great fasts preceded Easter.

Can we say that this name meant the Manichaean festival of Beta, which also fell at this time? No document allows us to establish this with certainty, and, moreover, as we have already observed, in the Cathar ritual, which persistently and generously quotes the Gospel and the Epistles of the Apostles, there is not a single mention of the name Mani. Did not this religion have two different Testaments and was not consolamentum which was considered the highest sacrament, a religious act intended only for the uninitiated? It is difficult to agree with such an assumption. The teaching of the Cathars, Manichaean in doctrine, was deeply Christian in form and ideological expression. The Cathars worshiped Christ exclusively, and there was no place left for any Mani in their cult. And, nevertheless, we do not have enough data to understand what this holiday was - Easter or Bema?

It is very likely and humanly understandable that before parting forever, the perfect and the warriors negotiated this priceless respite for themselves. They didn’t ask for anything extra, but it would have been very difficult to achieve more.

The hostages were released in early March. According to information obtained during interrogations, these were Arnaud-Roger de Mirepoix, an elderly chevalier, a relative of the garrison chief; Jordan, son of Raymond de Perell; Raymond Marty, brother of Bishop Bertrand; the names of the others are unknown, the list of hostages was not found.

Some authors believe that Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix left the castle shortly before the end of the truce, having signed the act of surrender in advance. This assumption is unlikely, since, according to the testimony of Alze de Massabrac, on March 16, Pierre-Roger was still in the fortress. It is known that he then left for Mongalyar, and then his trace was lost for ten years. The silence that surrounded his name gave rise to accusations, if not of betrayal, then of desertion. However, it would be logical for the victors to declare the presence of the main instigator of the Avignonet massacre in the fortress undesirable and ask him to leave as soon as possible. A person who openly expressed a desire to drink wine from the skull of Guillaume-Arnaud could count on mercy, so to speak, only on occasion. Eleven years later, the royal coroner referred to him as "a faydite, deprived of his possessions for aiding and defending heretics at the castle of Montsegur." His civil rights were returned to him no earlier than 1257. It is difficult to believe that such a person could enter into any relations with the enemy.

It turns out that Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix and his father-in-law Raymond de Perella were in the fortress until the end of the truce along with the majority of the garrison, families and heretics who refused to renounce and, according to the terms of surrender, had to go to the stake. They devoted their fifteen days to religious ceremonies, prayers and farewells.

About the life of the inhabitants of Montsegur in these tragic fifteen days, we know only what the inquisitors managed to ask from the immediately interrogated witnesses: precise, meager details, whose soul-touching greatness cannot be obscured by the deliberate dryness of presentation. First of all, this is the distribution of property of those sentenced to death. As a token of gratitude for his concern, the heretics Raymond de Saint-Martin, Amiel Ecart, Clament, Taparel and Guillaume Pierre brought Pierre-Roger de Mirepois a lot of deniers in a bundle of blankets. Bishop Bertrand Marty gave the same Pierre-Roger oil, pepper, salt, wax and a piece of green linen. The stern old man did not possess any other values. The remaining heretics presented the chief of the garrison with a large amount of grain and fifty doublets for his people. The accomplished Raymonde de Cuq presented Sergeant Guillaume Adhemar with a measure of wheat (it was believed that the provisions stored in the fortress did not belong to the owners of the castle, but to the Cathar Church).

The elderly Marchesia de Lantar gave all her property to her granddaughter Philippe, the wife of Pierre-Roget. The soldiers were presented with Melgorsky sou, wax, pepper, salt, shoes, wallets, clothes, felt... everything that the perfect ones owned, and each of these gifts undoubtedly acquired the character of a shrine.

Further, in the testimonies of those interrogated, they talked about the rituals at which they happened to be present - and the only thing they were asked about in detail was consolamentum. On this day, when the very fact of joining the Cathar Church meant a death sentence, at least seventeen people made this choice. There were eleven men - all chevaliers or sergeants - and six women.

One of the women, Corba de Perella, daughter of the perfect Marchesia and mother of a paralyzed girl, perhaps already taken consolamentum I have been preparing for this serious step for a long time. She decided only at dawn on the last day of the truce. Preferring to accept torment as faith, she separated from her husband, two daughters, grandchildren and son. Ermengarde d'Yussat was one of the noble ladies of the region, Guglielma, Bruna and Arsendida were the wives of sergeants (the latter two went to the fire at the eleventh hour with their husbands completely voluntarily). They were all young, like their husbands. Perhaps she was older Beranger de Lavelanet's wife, Guglielma.

From the Chevalier consolamentum during the truce, two were accepted: Guillaume de l'Ile - seriously wounded a few days before - and Raymond de Marciliano. The rest were sergeants Raymond-Guillaume de Tornabois, Brasiliac de Calavello (both took part in the Avignonet massacre), Arnaud Domerc (husband Bruna), Arnaud Dominique, Guillaume de Narbonne, Pons Narbonne (Arsendida's husband), Joan Per, Guillaume du Puy, Guillaume-Jean de Lordat and, finally, Raymond de Belvis and Arnaud Theuli, ascended to Montsegur when the situation was already hopeless, as if they had come such a dangerous path to become martyrs. All these soldiers could have left the castle with military honors and with their heads held high, but they preferred to be rounded up like cattle, tied to bundles of fagots and burned alive side by side with their teachers in the faith .

We know little about these mentors, except that Bishop Bertrand, Raymond de Saint-Martin and Raymond Aiguyer performed the rite consolamentum over those who asked for it, and distributed their property. The perfect persons of both sexes numbered about 190, but it is known that 210 or 215 heretics were burned at Montségur, and those whose names we can name with certainty were simple believers who converted at the last moment.

It is shocking that a good quarter of the surviving soldiers of the garrison were ready to die for their faith, not in a fit of enthusiasm, but after long days of conscious preparation. No one canonized the martyrs of a failed religion, but these people, whose names were recorded only to blacklist witnesses to their conversion, fully deserved the status of martyrs.

At least three of the prisoners who were in the fortress at the time of the surrender escaped the fire. This was a violation of the treaty, and they learned about it only after the French occupied the castle. On the night of March 16, Pierre-Roger ordered the heretics Amiel Eckart, his companion Hugues Poitevin and a third man, whose name remains unknown, to rappel down the eastern edge of the cliff. When the French entered the castle, these three were in the dungeon and escaped the fate of their brothers. They had to carry out and safely hide what remained of the Cathar treasure, and find the cache of money hidden two months earlier. In fact, Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix and his knights were the last to leave the castle, after the Cathars and after the women and children. They had to remain masters of the fortress until the last moment. The evacuation of the treasures was successful, and neither the three heretics nor the treasures themselves were discovered by the authorities.

“When the heretics left the castle of Montsegur, which was to be returned to the Church and the king, Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix detained Amiel Eckart and his friend Hugo, the heretics, in the said castle; and while the rest of the heretics were burned, he hid the said heretics, and then let them go, and did this so that the Church of the heretics would not lose its treasures hidden in the forests. The fugitives knew the location of the hiding place." B. de Lavelanette also claims that A. Eckart, Poitevin and two others, who were sitting in the dungeon when the French entered the castle, descended by rope. Montsegur fell, but the Cathar Church continued to fight.

With the exception of these three (or four) people who were entrusted with a dangerous mission, none of those committed could, and perhaps did not want to, escape the fire. As soon as the truce expired, the seneschal and his knights, accompanied by church authorities, appeared at the castle gates. The Bishop of Narbonne had recently departed for home. The Church was represented by Bishop Albi and the inquisitors Brother Ferrier and Brother Duranty. The French did their job and promised life to all those who fought. Now the fate of the defenders of Montsegur depended only on the church tribunal.

Leaving the fortress, Raymond de Perella left his wife and youngest daughter to the executioners. Fathers, husbands, brothers and sons have mastered the law so well, which for centuries has brought unrepentant heretics to the stake and cruelly torn them from their loved ones, that they have learned to perceive it as the logical result of defeat and see in it a manifestation of blind fate. How were those who were not forgiven distinguished? Perhaps they defined themselves by keeping aloof from others. In such a situation, it was useless to interrogate them and force them to admit what they did not try to hide.

Guillaume of Puyloran writes: “It was in vain that they were urged to convert to Christianity.” Who called them and how? Most likely, the inquisitors and their assistants in a separate group led more than two hundred heretics out of the fortress, simultaneously censure them for formality. At dawn, the daughters of Corba de Perella, Philippa de Mirepoix and Arpaida de Ravat, said goodbye to their mother, who for a few short hours appeared before them already as perfect. Arpaida, without daring to go into detail, gives us a sense of the horror of the moment when her mother, along with the others, was led to her death: “...they were driven out of the castle of Montsegur like a herd of animals...”.

At the head of the group of condemned men was Bishop Bertrand Marty. The heretics were chained and dragged mercilessly down a steep slope to a place where a fire had been prepared.

In front of Montsegur, on the southwestern slope of the mountain - practically, this is the only place where you can go down - there is an open clearing, which is now called the “field of the burnt”. This place is located less than two hundred meters from the castle, and the path to it is very steep. William of Puyloran says that the heretics were burned “at the very foot of the mountain,” and perhaps this is the field of the burnt.

While the perfect ones above were preparing for death and saying goodbye to their friends, some of the sergeants of the French army were busy with the last siege work: it was necessary to provide a proper fire for the burning of two hundred people - the approximate number of those sentenced to them was announced in advance. “A palisade was built from stakes and straw,” writes Guillaume of Puyloran, “to fence off the place of the fire.” Many bundles of brushwood, straw, and possibly tree resin were carried inside, since in the spring the wood is still damp and does not burn well. For such a number of condemned people, most likely there was no time to erect poles and tie people to them one by one. In any case, Guillaume of Puyloran only mentions that they were all herded into the palisade.

The sick and wounded were simply thrown onto armfuls of brushwood; the rest, perhaps, managed to find their loved ones and unite with them... and the mistress of Montsegur died next to her mother and paralyzed daughter, and the sergeants' wives died next to their husbands. Perhaps the bishop managed, amid the groans of the wounded, the clanging of weapons, the screams of the executioners who lit the fire, and the mournful singing of the monks, to address his flock with the last word. The flame flared up, and the executioners retreated from the fire, protecting themselves from the smoke and heat. In a few hours, two hundred living torches turned into a pile of blackened, bloody bodies, still huddled together. An eerie smell of burnt meat floated over the valley and the castle.

The defenders who remained in the castle could see from above how the flames of the fire started and grew, and clouds of black smoke covered the mountain. As the flames diminished, the acrid, sickening smoke thickened. By nightfall the flames began to slowly fade. The soldiers scattered across the mountain, sitting by the fires near the tents, should have seen red flashes breaking through the smoke. That night, the four who were responsible for the safety of the treasure descended on ropes from the cliff. Their path passed almost over the place where a monstrous fire, fed with human flesh, was burning out.