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Languedoc Roussillon

France - Languedoc - Roussillon-Cathar country part 3

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The Cathar
country
part 1

 The Cathar country part 2

 The Cathar country part 3

 The Cathar country part 4

Le MAS-SAINTES-PUELLES lies hidden behind a forested hill between the flowering orchards and rapeseed fields. At first sight it looks as it had nothing to do with the Cathar history, but in the middle of the village, nestled into the houses, stands a remainder of a farm where the widow Garsende du Mas used to live with her five sons and their families. All believers of the Cathar faith. Garsende had been baptized in the Catharian way and became an example for the whole village. All travelling Cathars were welcome here and the heart of the Cathar people beat harder here than anywhere else. They were all slain by the furious pope's crusaders. 
But let's continue to MONTSEGUR. 

Montsegur castle ruins

"Ariége-la Terre Courage" brags a large panel at the side of the road. I figure they have full right to claim that title, here in the country of the counts of Foix, the sworn arch-enemies of the crusaders from the north. Because if you want to get to the famous last bastion of the Cathars, hidden very deep in the Pays d'Olmes, has to cross this landscapes. 
The contours of the mountain appear at the horizon, as a beacon in a huge desert. Despite the long distance, you can already see the sharp lines of a castle at the top, contrasting against the blue sky. 
It's here that the Cathars, chased from everywhere by violent raids, slaughters, genuine pogroms, without women or children being spared, built the siege of their church. Montsegur, the safe mountain, became their refuge and meeting place. But the crusaders were stubborn and greedy people. Not only religion but also he promise of wealth by looting all they could find, drove them to carry on. In 1243, the chateau fort of Montsegur was besieged. About 200 Cathars, defended by the seigneur du chateau and his soldiers, entrenched behind the walls. The resistance lasted ten months, despite heavy bombardments and shootings. 
Lower, in the valley, is now a museum, where you can see the excavations of this period: almost touching and pathetic, a few small buckles, scissors, the tools of a craftsman in leather wares, the dices used by the soldiers to pass time. But also the parts of a coat of mail, arrow points, stone bullets used for the shooting on the castle and two skeletons found next one to the other in the split of a chasm. A man and a woman. The arrows that pierced them were still in the bodies when they were found. 
Climbing Montsegur is like a pilgrimage. But I'll keep that for next article. 

Bibliography

Wonderful Cathar Country, by J. L. Aubarbie (Editions Ouest France, Rennes, 1994), The Albigensian Crusade, by Bernard Hamilton(Historical Assoc., London, 1974), Ecritures Cathares: textes preCathares et Cathares, by Rene Nelli, Rene(Paris, 1968), The Perfect Heretics: Cathars and Catharism, by Jeff Merrifield, (Enabler Publications, Dorset,1995, Le Catharisme, by Deodat Roche (Toulouse, 1947), Massacre at Montsegur, by Zoe Oldenbourg