Montségur, Cathar stronghold
The small village of Montségur, with its craft studios and souvenir shops (indeed, a chance to meet tourist busses in summer!), nestles at the bottom of a high crag where a ruined castle perches, silhouetted above a white cliff. The castle once provided refuge during the Albigensian crusade.
The siege began in May 1243. Inside a few hundred Cathars endured 8 months of siege and bombardment, before a clemency agreement in exchange for surrender was negociated. But the Cathar faithfull would not betray their cause and, as a result, when the castle was opened to the catholic forces, some 225 were led out to a field below a fort and burnt alive. A small monument at the foot of the hill reminds of this massacre.
A handfull of Cathars slipped out of the encirclement during the siege and, legend has it, they carried some sort of collection of valuables with them. Within time the story of the lost treasure of the Cathars grew. See for this under "Rennes-le-Château" in this trip.
