"The cross of Christ - should not serve as an object of worship, as no one will worship the gallows on which his father, relative or friend was hanged."
From the teachings of the Cathars 1244, March 17.
The morning turned out to be cold, but this only provoked the brothers-crusaders and numerous knechts. The latter actively dragged armfuls of brushwood and straw to the central square, laying them around 257 pillars dug into the ground the day before: execution was being prepared.
"Appear, source of courage …" (Veni creator spiritus …), - sounded the anthem of the crusaders in the silence of the morning (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 157.). Under the sounds of a discordant "chorus" the doomed to death appeared, they were taken out in twos; dressed in black robes, they seemed akin to rare birds - straightened shoulders, a look full of contempt for their enemies, tightly closed lips, a clear, unseeding step.
The guards did not urge the convicts on, they themselves approached the place of execution: each chose a pillar for himself - his own "cross".
Bishop Albi Durand - obese and unkempt - gave the command: "Burn!", It was instantly duplicated in different parts of the square, fires immediately flared up. A minute, another, a third, and the whole square was covered with smoke, it became impossible to breathe … In an hour everything was over …
The victims did not say a word, the execution for them turned into a real "enduru" (ritual suicide). These were the heretics-Cathars, the last defenders of the Montsegur fortress (located in Languedoc, an area in the south of France), which fell under the blows of the army of Saint Louis IX, who organized a real crusade against them.
Promotional video:
* * *
At the beginning of the XIII century, the area called Languedoc was not part of the French kingdom. The Languedoc kingdom stretched from Aquitaine to Provence and from the Pyrenees to Quercy. This land was independent, while its language, culture and political structure gravitated rather to the Spanish kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. In terms of its highly developed culture of Languedoc, taken for the most part from Byzantium, it did not have its own kind in the then Christian world (Pechnikov BA "Knights of the Church". Who are they? Essays on the history and modern activities of Catholic orders. M., 1991. S. 52.).
Apparently, it was really a heavenly land:
“Bright colors … are inseparable from the fields of Provence and Languedoc, the kingdom of the sun and the azure sky. Blue sky and even bluer sea, coastal rocks, yellow mimosas, black pines, green laurel and mountains, from the tops of which the snow has not yet melted …
As night falls, the stars light up. Incredibly large, they shine in the dark sky, but they seem so close that it seems as if you can reach them with your hand. The southern moon is completely different from the moon of the North. This is a twin sister, but more beautiful and more silent …
The southern moon and southern sun give birth to love and songs. When the sun shines, the soul begins to sing. Songs are pouring, fog is hiding, and larks flutter joyfully in the azure sky. But then the moon appears over the sea. With her sunrise she stops the songs, which, competing with the nightingales, start courting beautiful ladies”(Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 10.).
What could be more beautiful!
The ancient Languedoc cities of Béziers, Perpignan, Narbonne, Carcassonne, Albi could boast not only a rich history, but also a variety of social thought, religious dissent, persistence and readiness for self-sacrifice of heretics who defend their views.
It was here, in the Languedoc, that the "heresy" known as Catharism or Albigensianism (the latter named after the city of Albi) was born.
"To speak with confidence about the philosophical and religious system of the Romanic Cathars, we would have to turn to their very rich literature." But all of it was destroyed by the Inquisition as "a dirty source of diabolical heresy." Not a single book of the Cathars has come down to us. Only the records of the Inquisition remained, which can be supplemented with the help of close teachings: Gnosticism, Manichaeism, Priscillianism (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 94.).
It is these - secondary and indirect - sources that make it possible to present (though sometimes contradictory) picture.
Why Cathars?
Was there little heresy before and after the Crusaders?
A lot. But it is with the Cathars that numerous testimonies about the Holy Grail are associated. It was the Cathars who were considered the keepers of the Grail. How did she get to them? Probably no one will remember, and was there a need to remember in this even then? Of course not! The crusaders' attention was more focused on the heresy itself and the real riches of the community than on the mythical - as it appeared - relics.
… The Cathar community included a number of differently oriented sects, which, it is true, were interconnected by certain general principles, but in particulars and details they differed from one another.
Cathars - (from the Greek Katharos - pure) - a unifying definition, and the name of one of the sects, the ideas of which were circulating mainly among the common people, those who for hours did not take their hands from hoes, from a potter's wheel or a loom.
Apparently, physical labor - for wear and tear - so disgusted the sectarians that they perceived the material world as nothing more than a product of the devil. Under this "silliness", all material values were subject to destruction, and the followers of the Qatari doctrine were encouraged to live in complete asceticism, devoting themselves to serving God and denouncing the Catholic clergy.
The Cathars were largely echoed by the so-called "Waldenses".
"Waldenses" (or "Lyons poor") - named after the Lyon merchant Pierre Waldo, who, professing the doctrine, distributed his property, proclaimed asceticism as the ideal of life. (“Around 1170, Pierre Waldo, a wealthy merchant from Lyon, ordered the translation of the New Testament into his own language in order to read it on his own. He soon came to the conclusion that the apostolic life taught by Christ and His disciples was not found anywhere else; Pierre had numerous disciples, whom he sent around the world as missionaries, they managed to find followers almost exclusively among the lower strata of society. Only occasionally nobles fell into the Waldensian sect. Its members preached mainly in the streets and squares. Between Waldensians and Cathars. often there were disputes,however, they have always been dominated by mutual understanding. Rome, which often confused the Waldensians of Southern France with the Cathars, gave them the generic name "Albigensians". In fact, it was about two completely different and from each other independent heresies, which had in common only that the Vatican vowed to eradicate both teachings "(Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, pp. 139-140; See, also: Marx J. La legende arthurienne et le Graal. Paris, 1952. P. 24.).)Paris, 1952. P. 24.).)Paris, 1952. P. 24.).)
The Cathars, Albigensians and Waldensians were united in the Romanesque Church of Love, which “consisted of“perfect”(perfecti) and“believers”(credentes or imperfecti). The "believers" did not include the strict rules by which the "perfect" lived. They could dispose of themselves as they wished - to marry, trade, fight, write love songs, in a word, live as all people lived then. The name Сatharus ("pure") was given only to those who, after a long probationary period, by a special sacred rite, "consolation" (consolamentum), which we will talk about later, were initiated into the esoteric secrets of the Church of Love "(O. Ran. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 103.).
Cathars lived in forests and caves, spending most of their time in worship. A table covered with white cloth served as an altar. On it lay the New Zvet in the Provencal dialect, revealed in the first chapter of the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The service was just as simple. It began by reading passages from the New Testament. Then came the "blessing." The "believers" present at the service folded their hands, knelt down, bowed three times and said to the "perfect":
- Bless us.
For the third time they added:
- Pray to God for us, sinners, to make us good Christians and bring us to a good end.
The "perfect" each time stretched out their hands for blessing and answered:
- Diaus Vos benesiga ("God bless you! May he make you good Christians and lead you to a good end") ".
"…" Believers "asked for blessings in rhymed prose:
- May I never die, may I deserve from you that my end be good.
The "perfect" answered:
- May you be a kind person (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 103-104; See also: Beguin A. La Quete du Saint Graal. Paris, 1958. P. 49, 56.).
The moral teaching of the Cathars, however pure and strict it may be, did not coincide with the Christian. The latter has never sought to mortify the flesh, contempt for earthly creatures and liberation from worldly shackles. The Cathars - by the power of fantasy and willpower - wanted to achieve absolute perfection on Earth and, fearing to fall into the materialism of the Roman Church, they transferred everything into the sphere of the spirit: religion, culture, and life as such.
It is amazing with what force this teaching, at the same time the most tolerant and intolerant of Christian doctrines, spread. The main reason was the pure and holy life of the Cathars themselves, which was too clearly different from the way of life of Catholic priests (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 102.).
According to the point of view of the researcher B. Pechnikov, “the Cathars denied the Christian sacraments. They created their own ceremonies, which they considered gracious acts. The rite of initiation of the neophyte, for example, began with the fact that the performer of the procedure with the New Testament in his hands persuaded the person who had joined the ranks of the Cathars not to regard the Catholic Church as the only true one. In addition, based on their teachings, the Cathars came into conflict not only with the Roman curia, but also with the secular authorities, since their assertion of dominance in the world of evil fundamentally rejected both the secular court and secular power.
The "perfect", dressed in long black cloaks (to show the grief of their souls about their stay in earthly hell), belted with a simple rope, pointed caps on their heads, carried their sermons, and among them the main one was "Thou shalt not kill!" (Pechnikov BA "Knights of the Church". Who are they? Essays on the history and modern activities of Catholic orders. M., 1991. P. 54; Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. P.112; Dashkevich NP Legend of the Holy Grail // From the history of medieval romanticism. Kiev, 1877, p. 17.).
They couldn't even kill a worm and a frog. This was required by the doctrine of the transmigration of souls. Therefore, they could not participate in wars, and took up arms only when absolutely necessary.
Emphasizing their difference from the "long-bearded monks with tonsure", the Cathars shaved their beards and let their hair go down to their shoulders (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 112.). The view is frightening, but only at first glance.
“The teachings of the Cathars were overgrown with mythological adornments. What is left? The famous Kant's tetrad remains.
First: the coexistence of good and evil in a person.
Second: the struggle between good and evil for power over man.
Third: the victory of the good over the evil, the beginning of the Kingdom of God.
Fourth: separation of truth and falsehood under the influence of a good beginning (O. Ran, Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 103; See: J. Marx La legende arthurienne et le Graal, Paris, 1952. P. 11.).
Good and evil, truth and falsehood - these are the four components of the entire teaching of the Cathars. Everything is simple and clear.
* * *
By the beginning of the 13th century, the Cathars, with their ideology denying the most important tenets of the Roman Catholic Church, had become for the latter the main enemy. And it is not surprising that the Albigensian wars (1209-1229) are assessed as a real crusade (despite the indisputable paradox - Christians went against Christians).
But in the Albigensian wars, there was also a sacred subtext: the Catholic north of France rose with sword and fire to the heretical south. The Grail was a true heretical symbol. People who worshiped the Christian cross cursed him, and a crusade was directed against him. The "Cross" waged a holy war against the "Grail" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 135.).
The reason for the outbreak of the Albigensian Wars was the assassination of the papal legate Pierre de Castelno by one of the courtiers of Raymund VI, Count of Toulouse, in 1208. Exactly one year later, an unprecedented crusader army gathered in Lyon.
Hungry and angry at the whole world recruits from all regions of Western Europe gather in Lyon: from Ile-de-France, Burgundy, Lorraine, Rhineland, Austria, Friesland, Hungary and Slavonia. All of Europe, the entire Christian world under the banner of the cross, are sent with a sword against Provence and Languedoc in order to destroy the cause for unrest, to eliminate which the Church has fought in vain for the past three generations.
On June 24, 1209, the crusaders leave Lyon, heading away from the Rhone, towards Provence. Not counting the clergy, twenty thousand knights and more than two hundred thousand townspeople and peasants are in the army. "But what chaos reigns in Christ's ratification!" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 153; See about the same: Beguin A. La Quete du Saint Graal. Paris, 1958. P. 25-27.).
The army moved to the south of France towards Languedoc under the leadership of the "implacable and gloomy" abbot of the largest Catholic monastery Cito Arnold and the ruthless knight Simon de Montfort (he was appointed by King Philip II Augustus, by the way, excommunicated from the church in 1200 - for the dissolution of his second marriage) … The family mark of the glorious Simon de Montfort is a silver cross.
(Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 133-134.).
Bishop Sito, “like an apocalyptic horseman, in a developing cassock, he bursts into a country that does not want to worship his God. A horde of archbishops, bishops, abbots and priests follow him, chanting "Dies irae". Secular rulers appear beside the princes of the Church, shining with steel, silver and gold of their weapons. They are followed by Robert Onehabe, Guy Trinkanewasser and many other robber knights, surrounded by a retinue of unbridled horsemen. In the rearguard are the townspeople and peasants and, finally, the thousands of European rabble: marauders, libertines and corrupt women "(Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 154.).
Tito Masii and Abraham Ben Ezra testify:
"The dragon, spewing out the flames of annihilation, approaches, destroying everything in its path." According to the memoirs of Guillermo Tudelsky, “these mad and vile scoundrels slaughtered priests, women and children. No one was left alive … I think that such a monstrous slaughter has not happened since the time of the Saracens."
One of the barons asked the chief abbot of the Cistercian how to recognize heretics.
The abbot replied: “Kill everyone! The Lord himself will distinguish his own!"
“Bells melt on bell towers, dead bodies are engulfed in flames, and the whole cathedral is like a volcano. Blood flows, the dead are burning, the city groans, walls are crumbling, monks offer prayers, crusaders kill, gypsies rob!"
* * *
During the twenty years of the Albigensian wars, the entire Languedoc was devastated, fields, villages and cities were trampled to the ground, and most of the civilian population was ruthlessly killed. The destruction of people - from small to large - has taken on such horrifying proportions that some European scientists call the Languedoc expedition "the first genocide in the history of the continent." In the city of Béziers alone, in front of the Church of Saint Nazarius, more than twenty thousand people were torn to pieces, accused of the Albigensian heresy (Pechnikov BA "Knights of the Church". Who are they? Essays on the history and modern activities of Catholic orders. M., 1991. S. 50.).
The same thing happened in Perpignan, Narbonne and the ancient, most elegant city of Languedoc Carcassonne (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 38.).
* * *
* * *
Avignon is a completely tiny fortress between Ville-franche-de-Lorague and Castelnaudary, the command of which Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse entrusted Raymond d'Alfard, an Aragonese nobleman (by his mother he was Raymond VII's nephew, and by his wife, Guillemette, the illegitimate daughter of Raymond VI, - son-in-law …) It was there, in Avignon, in 1242, that a story took place that predetermined the tragic end of Montsegur and the death of all his defenders.
As soon as Raymond d'Alfard learns about the imminent visit of the fathers-inquisitors to try the local residents, he immediately warns Pierre-Roger de Mirpois, who commanded the garrison of Montsegur together with Raymond de Persia, through a faithful envoy, to come to Avignon with his detachment.
And this time the fathers-inquisitors fell victim to their own carelessness. History has preserved their names: Inquisitor Guillaume Arnault, accompanied by two Dominicans (Garcias de Hora from diocese Commenge and Bernard de Roquefort), Franciscan Etienne de Saint-Tiberi, Franciscan Raymond Carbona - assessor of the tribunal, where he probably represented the bishop of Toulouse finally, Raymond Costiran, the archdeacon of Les. They were all assisted by a cleric named Bernard, and a notary who drew up the interrogation protocols, two employees and, finally, a certain Pierre Arnault, perhaps a relative of Guillaume Arnault - in total, eleven people, "whose strength was only in the horror they caused" …
The inquisitors and their retinue arrived in Avignon on the eve of the Ascension. Raymond d'Alfard received them with honors and placed them in the house of the Count of Toulouse, which was located in the northwestern corner of the fortifications. A guard was posted at the door so that no one could disturb the sleep of tired travelers.
A resident of Avignon, Raymond Golaren, leaves the city at the same hour and meets three knights from Montsegur, who, accompanied by numerous sergeants armed with axes, stood at the leper colony outside the city. They took great precautions not to attract the attention of the common people.
Then the knights and sergeants approached the walls of Avignon, but only Golaren left for the city to find out what the inquisitors who had arrived with the check were doing.
Golaren went back and forth several times, until it was finally confirmed that the inquisitors were already sleeping sweetly after a plentiful evening meal. Exactly at midnight, the men and sergeants, with axes and swords baldly, entered the city gates, opened by their faithful inhabitants. Inside they met Raymond d'Alfard and a small armed force of garrison sergeants.
With ax blows, the attackers knocked out the doors of the house where the sleeping companions were staying, and hacked to death the inquisitors, "who went out with their retinue to the singing of" Salve Regina "(" Salve Regina "is a hymn to the Virgin Mary.) To meet the murderers."
As the men left the city to join the sergeants who stood guard outside the walls, Raymond d'Alfard called the people to arms, signaling the signal for an uprising. The knights returned to Montsegur to the cheers of the residents of nearby villages, who had already learned about the night operation. At Saint-Felix they were met by the local priest at the head of his parishioners.
It was clear to everyone that the Avignon murders were not a separate act of revenge, but a conspiracy prepared in advance. Moreover, the Avignon massacre was supposed to be a signal for an uprising in all lands of the Count of Toulouse, and Raymond VII tried to ensure the active participation of people from Montsegur to be completely sure that all those whom they represent were at the same time with him.
Were there Albigensians among the attackers? After all, faith forbade them to kill?
Yes they were. But the blood shed by them, the Albigensian Cathars explained the need for preventive protection, otherwise the inquisitors would have staged an even more cruel massacre. And the Albigensians decided to strike first, knowing full well what awaits them in response, knowing full well that the forces that oppose them are hundreds of times larger - both in number, and in armament, and in cruelty and persistence in defending their interests.
“Then all eyes were turned to Raymond VII, it depended on him whether or not this tragedy would turn into the bloody dawn of liberation. -So the researcher writes. - Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, for a long time, from 1240 to 1242, hatched the idea of a coalition against the French king … Finally, on October 15, 1241, Raymond VII, it seems, can count on the assistance or at least sympathy of the kings of Aragon, Castile, the English king, the Comte de La Marche and even the Emperor Frederick II. It was decided to attack the Capetian possessions simultaneously from all sides: from the south, east and west. But the Count of Toulouse suddenly fell ill at Penn d'Agenes, and Hugo Lusignan, Comte de la Marche, launched an attack without waiting for him. Saint Louis gave a lightning-fast rebuff.
On two days, July 20 and 22, 1242, the French king defeated the King of England and the Comte de la Marsha at Saint and Taybour. Henry III fled to Blaye, then to Bordeaux, and the case is now lost, despite a new victorious movement in the South, inspired by the beating in Avignon. Raymond VII had no choice but to conclude peace with the King of France in Lorry on October 30, 1240. On the back of the original letter, preserved in the National Archives, you can read the following words, written in the 13th century script:
"Humiliatio Raimundi, quondam comitis Tholosani, post ultirnam guerram" - "The humiliation of Raymond, once Count of Toulouse, after the end of the war."
The count yielded to the king of the fortress Bram and Saverden and voluntarily left Lorage. From now on, only the Montsegur fortress remained, and they were not slow to take revenge for the massacre in Avignon”(Madol J. Albigenskaya drama and the fate of France.).
* * *
But even after 1229 (the date of the end of large-scale hostilities), and after 1240 (when the heretics abandoned large-scale resistance), the centers of the Cathar-Albigensian resistance were not extinguished. The struggle and preaching continued. The center of the heresy was Montsegur, a well-fortified castle in Provence. But "the fortress of Montsegur also becomes a telluric center, a magical temple, a stronghold of the spirit in the material world, a clock and a calendar carved in stone, a gate with a magic key that allowed the radiance of the spirit to illuminate time."
The Montsegur Fortress is a wonderful fortification, filled not only with military, but also with “deep astrological meaning”. It is built on a huge cliff of limestone rock at an altitude of 1207 meters and rises in the middle of a landscape in the foothills of the Pyrenees, surrounded by golden, sparkling deposits of pyrite (pyrite) mountain peaks that emit a completely unearthly light. During the summer solstice, the dawn rays enter the temple through two tall windows and leave it through the exact same pair of windows, specially cut to determine this moment of the annual cycle. Montsegur is a temple with a built-in sundial.
Symbolically: beauty and time, eternity and death, sword and spirituality.
Monsegur is the abode of "good people", "weavers" or "comforters" who abandoned material goods and devoted their lives to the development of the spirit, who knew and applied medicine and astrology in practice. However, the Roman Church did not welcome this spiritual movement and declared it heresy.
“In the light of the moon, pure in thoughts, emaciated and pale, they ascended proudly and silently through the forests of Serralunga, where the owl's whistle louder than the wind that sings in the gorge of Tabor, like a huge aeolian harp. Sometimes, in the forest glades, washed by the moonlight, they took off their tiaras and took out the leather scrolls carefully kept on their chests - the Gospel from the beloved disciple of the Lord, kissed the parchment, and, putting their face to the Moon, kneeling, prayed:
"Give us our heavenly bread this day … and deliver us from the evil one …"
And they continued on their way to death. When the dogs rushed at them, dropping foam from their jaws, when the executioners caught them and beat them, they looked down at Montsegur, and then raised their eyes to the stars, for they knew that their brothers were there. And after that they humbly ascended to the fire "(From the preface of Tito Masia to the" Book of Judgments about the Stars "by Abraham Ben Ezra.).
* * *
Jacques Madol. Albigensian Drama and the Fates of France:
“At first they tried to use for this very Raymond VII, who had to surround the fortress at the end of 1242. The Count of Toulouse not only did not have the slightest desire to take Montsegur, but, on the contrary, conveyed to the besieged a request to hold out until Christmas, because then he would be able to support them. In this situation, the seneschal of Carcassonne, Hugo des Arcy, decided to begin the siege of the fortress himself. In May 1243 he approached Montsegur."
* * *
1243, spring, France, Montsegur:
The French Catholic army (about ten thousand soldiers) besieges the castle of Montsegur - the last citadel of the Albigensians. Even fourteen years after the end of the Albigensian Wars, “undefiled and free, the Romanesque sacred fortress still towered over the Provençal plain …
The peak of Montsegur during the crusade was a haven for the last free knights, ladies, praised troubadours, and few who escaped death at the stake of the Cathars. For almost forty years, the impregnable Pyrenean rock, crowned with the "temple of the highest love", resisted the fierce French invaders and Catholic pilgrims "(Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 198.).
This citadel, our contemporary wrote, was located on the top of the mountain, and its embrasures and walls were oriented to the cardinal points, so that they made it possible to calculate the days of the solstice (Pechnikov BA "Knights of the Church". Who are they? Essays on history and modern activities Catholic orders. M., 1991. S. 58.).
The siege began in a warm, sunny spring. The camp of the Catholic army was set up on one side of the hill, to the west of the cliffs on which the fortress stands. This place is called Campis (camp) today. The besiegers surrounded the entire summit of the mountain. No one should have climbed into the fortress and no one should have left it. And yet it seems likely that those surrounded might have kept in touch with their friends on the plain. Some historians believe that this is evidenced by extended underground passages - probably caves of not natural origin, “structures that served to maintain communication between the fortress and supporters of the besieged in the enemy camp (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. p. 200; See: Marx J. La legende arthurienne et le Graal. Paris, 1952.).
* * *
Jacques Madol. Albigensian Drama and the Fates of France:
“Since there was nothing to think about taking the fortress by storm, Hugo des Arcy limited himself to surrounding the castle in order to take it by hunger. But such a blockade turned out to be ineffective: the autumn rains allowed the besieged to stock up on water for a fairly long time. They did not risk being left without food, since they had been saving food for a long time, always fearing a siege. Although many hundreds of people were concentrated on this lost mountain peak, they had everything they needed, and the connection with the outside world was never interrupted. At night, people constantly climbed to Montsegur, joining the defenders. No matter how powerful the besieging army was, it could not prevent this, if only because it operated in a hostile country. The sympathy of the entire local population was on the side of the besieged. The blockade was not enough to take the fortress.
A direct attack remained extremely difficult. The detachment, stormed along the most accessible slope, risked being killed by gunfire from the fortress. It was possible to get to it only along the steep eastern ridge, to which the mountain paths, known only to the local population, led. Nevertheless, it was from there that Montsegur's death came. Perhaps one of the inhabitants of the region betrayed his own and opened the most difficult road for the French, which could get to the immediate approaches to the fortress. The Basque mountaineers, recruited for this purpose, Hugo des Arcy, managed to climb to the very top and capture the barbican, built on this side to protect the castle. It happened somewhere around Christmas 1243. However, the besieged held out for many more weeks."
* * *
1244, January, France, Montsegur:
Two "perfect" Cathars (history has not preserved their names) get out of the besieged castle of Montsegur, taking with them most of (sic) treasures of the Albigensians, which they carry to a fortified grotto in the depths of the mountains, as well as to some other castle.
Nobody else heard anything about this treasure.
This "operation" was successful because in the ranks of the army of the crusaders who besieged Montsegur there were many Languedocs who did not want their fellow countrymen to die.
* * *
Jacques Madol. Albigensian Drama and the Fates of France:
“However, the besieged held out for many more weeks.
They managed to take out the famous treasures of Montsegur along a road that was much more difficult than the one captured by the French during the storming of the barbican. They were helped in this by accomplices from the besieging army, partly consisting of local residents. The treasures were hidden in the caves of Sabart, where the last Cathars later took refuge. Since then, these treasures have aroused curiosity as strong as they were futile. Their traces have never been found. Perhaps some information about them was contained in those texts that we so badly lack for the study of the doctrine of the Cathars. It was probably about the significant sums collected by the Cathars in Monsegur in previous years. With the fall of the fortress, it was important to preserve the church, for which the money was intended. Amber de Sala's testimony before the Inquisition speaks of pecuniam infinitam, a huge amount of coins. From now on, the days of Montsegur were numbered. Bishop Albi Durand, a former, surrendering, great engineer, put a catapult on the site of the destroyed barbican, which made the existence of the besieged unbearable. The cannon built by Bertrand de la Baccalaria, a Cathar engineer, did not help either. Pierre-Roger de Mirpois, a resident of Avignon, made every effort to drive the French out of the barbican and burn their car. But the garrison retreated with heavy losses, and the attack of the besiegers, who had climbed onto the site in front of the castle, was repulsed with great difficulty.to drive the French out of the barbican and burn their car. But the garrison retreated with heavy losses, and the attack of the besiegers, who had climbed onto the site in front of the castle, was repulsed with great difficulty.to drive the French out of the barbican and burn their car. But the garrison retreated with heavy losses, and the attack of the besiegers, who had climbed onto the site in front of the castle, was repulsed with great difficulty.
The next morning, on the last day of February 1244, horns sounded on the walls of Montsegur: the garrison agreed to negotiations. Everything is strange about this death of Montsegur. Unsurprisingly, the people, who heroically defended for nine months, suffered heavy losses and no longer hoped, despite the generous assurances of Raymond VII of any help, requested a truce in the battle. They did so, of course, with the full consent of the Good People, and especially Bishop Bertrand Marty, the true commandant of the fortress. What is strange is that the besiegers, practically victors, agreed to negotiations and did not demand complete and unconditional surrender. This is explained by the exhaustion of the besiegers themselves at the end of an exceptionally long blockade. The explanation seems to me not entirely convincing. Monsegur was doomed and, of course, could not have resisted a new attack. But a mixed army operating in a hostile country, with a sovereign like Raymond VII in the rear, undoubtedly, could not afford the ruthless treatment of the vanquished. It can even be assumed that Saint Louis, starting the tactics of rapprochement, which later became his policy, gave instructions to his Carcassonne seneschal."
* * *
1244, March 1, France, Montsegur:
About four hundred people remained in the fortress, 180 of them were initiated, the rest were civilians, but sympathetic to the Albigonians. The siege exhausted the inhabitants and warriors of Montsegur, there was an acute shortage of water, diseases began, and general fatigue affected. The commandant of the fortress understood perfectly well that the garrison could hold back the onslaught of the crusaders for a long time (the successful location of Montsegur allowed the Cathars to prevent the enemy from using all their power in close combat). But it was a pity for the civilians, especially the women, who could hardly bear the hardships. The council made a decision - to lay down arms, but - on certain conditions.
Monsegur is rented out on favorable terms for him. All defenders of the castle, except for the perfect Cathars, can freely leave it (and they were allowed to take out all their property as well). The perfect must renounce their faith ("Cathar heresy"), otherwise they will be burned at the stake. The perfect ask for a two-week truce and get it.
* * *
Jacques Madol. Albigensian Drama and the Fates of France:
“The terms of surrender demanded that the Good People renounce heresy and confess before the inquisitors under the threat of a fire. In return, the defenders of Montsegur received forgiveness for all their past mistakes, including the beating in Avignon, and, even more suspiciously, they were given the right to keep the fortress for two weeks from the day of surrender, if only they would give the hostages. This is an unheard-of grace, and we do not know any examples like it. One may wonder why it was granted, but even more interesting, on what basis it was requested. It is not forbidden for the imagination of the most sober historians to relive with the vanquished those two weeks of deep peace that followed the thunder of the battle and preceded the sacrifice of Good People.
For whoever they were, they were excluded from the terms of surrender. To be forgiven, they had to renounce their faith and their existence. None of the Good People even thought about it. Moreover, in the extraordinary atmosphere that prevailed in Montsegur during the two solemnly proclaimed weeks, many gurus and sergeants ask and receive Consolation, that is, they themselves condemn themselves to the stake. Of course, the bishop and his clergy wished to celebrate, for the last time, with the believers, from whom death will soon separate them, Easter, one of the greatest holidays of the Cathars. Good Men and Wives, sentenced to the fire, thank those who defended them so bravely, divide the remaining property between them. When you read in the affairs of the Inquisition about the simple ceremonies and actions of the Cathars, one cannot help but feel the harsh grandeur of their religion. Such delusions led to martyrdom. But they did not prepare for any kind of martyrdom as long as for the one that the Cathars endured at Montsegur on March 16, 1244. It must be admitted that the influence of this religion on the minds was very strong, since eleven men and six women chose death and glory along with their spiritual mentors to life in exchange for renunciation. Even more worrisome, if only possible, is something else. On the night of March 16, when the entire plain was still filled with acrid smoke rising from the fire, Pierre-Roger de Mirpois arranged an escape from the fortress already surrendered to four hidden Good People, “so that the church of heretics would not lose its treasures hidden in the forests: after all, the fugitives knew the secret … They are named Hugo, Amiel, Eckar and Clamen, and it can be believed that they did not do this voluntarily. In case the besiegers noticed anything,Pierre-Roger risked breaking the surrender agreement and the lives of the entire garrison. It is appropriate to ask what are the reasons for such a strange behavior: after all, the treasures of Montsegur were already hidden, and those who carried them, naturally, could find them.
Maybe there were two treasures: one - only material, it was immediately taken away; the second, completely spiritual, was preserved to the end in Montsegur, and was saved only at the last minute. All sorts of hypotheses have been put forward, and, of course, none of them is supported by any evidence. They reached the point that Monsegur is the Monsalvat from the Grail legend, and the spiritual treasure saved under the cover of night is nothing but the Grail itself."
* * *
1244, March 15, France, Montsegur:
The truce ends. More than two hundred committed, none of whom agreed to abdicate, were burned at the stake at the foot of the mountain on which Montsegur Castle stands.
257 Cathars were burned: to the 180 "perfect" were added seventy-one warriors and six women who took the "consolamentum" vow and became "parfaits". But even those who renounced heresy drank the bitterness of defeat: almost all were sentenced to long prison terms. The last two were released only in 1296. They spent 52 years in a cell together. Their further fate is unknown.
… Four committed ones hid in the dungeons of the castle in order to secretly leave it on the night of March 16 (“dressed in warm woolen capes, they went down the rope from the top of Pog to the Lasse gorge”). They were instructed to take out of the castle some kind of relic (Holy Grail?), As well as a map indicating where the Albigensian treasure is hidden. ("… To hand over the treasures to Belissen's son Pont-Arnaul from Castellum Verdunum in Sabart …")
The crusaders, having learned about the happy salvation of the four initiates, Bishop Albi Durand ordered to "snatch" from the commandant of Montsegur Arnaud-Roger de Mirpois information about what the fugitives had taken with them.
De Mirpoix named only the names of the perfect escaped - Hugo, Eckar, Clamen and Emvel, without saying a word about what these four carried with them - and immediately gave up the ghost, his heart could not stand it. (Otto Rahn called - Amiel, Aykar, Hugo and Poatevin). These four "were the descendants of the Celtic Iberian sages … they were Cathars who would have preferred to be burned at the stake with their brothers at Camp des cremats in order to begin their journey to the stars from there."
* * *
Jacques Madol. Albigensian Drama and the Fates of France:
“Monsegur's main secret will probably never be revealed, although a systematic search in the mountains and caves may shed some light. We are no better aware of how on March 16 we separated those who were destined to die at the stake from all the others. Perhaps the Good Men and Wives were kept separate from others and confessed themselves to the inquisitors, the brothers Ferrier and Duranty, who in vain offered conversion to the Catholic faith. The saddest scenes of breaking family ties took place there. Among those convicted was Korba, wife of Raymond de Persia, one of the commandants of the fortress. She left her husband, two married daughters, a son and grandchildren and waited for death, only at the last moment, on March 14, having taken the consolamentum. Korba was going to die along with her mother, Marchesia, and her sick daughter, also "robed."This heroic woman abandoned the world of the living, choosing the society of the condemned.
And then the Good Men and Wives, more than two hundred in number, were dragged roughly by the French sergeants to the steep slope separating Montsegur Castle from the field, which has since been called the Field of the Burned. Earlier, at least in Lavora, the Holocaust was even worse. However, folk tradition and history agree that the "fire of Montsegur" is superior in importance to all others, because never the victims rose to it with such readiness. It was not built, as in Lavora, Minerva or Le Casse, in a gross intoxication with victory. The two preceding weeks of the truce turned it into a symbol for both persecutors and persecuted. The castle of Montsegur became such a symbol, so strange in architecture that it seemed more like a sanctuary than a fortress. For many years it towered over the South like the biblical ark,where in the quiet of the mountain peaks the Qatari church continued its worship of spirit and truth. Now, when the venerable Bishop Bertrand Marty and all his clergy, men and women, were set on fire, it seemed that although the spiritual and material treasure of the church had been saved, the harsh radiance that illuminated the resistance of the South was extinguished with the last coals of this gigantic fire.
This time I agree with Pierre Belperron, who, after describing the fall of Montsegur, writes: “The capture of Montsegur was nothing more than a large-scale police operation. It had only a local echo, and even then mainly among heretics, whose main refuge and headquarters was Monsegur. In this fortress, they were masters, they could safely gather, consult, keep their archives and treasures. Legend has rightfully made Montsegur a symbol of the Qatari resistance. However, she was wrong, making him also a symbol of the Languedoc resistance. If heresy was often intertwined with the struggle against the French, then only Toulouse can be the symbol of the latter”.
* * *
On the night before the surrender, a bright fire broke out on the snow-covered peak of Bidorta. But this was not the fire of the Inquisition, but a symbol of celebration. Four Cathars made it known to those who remained in Montsegur and were preparing themselves for death by the "perfect" that Mani (the Roman name for the Grail) was saved …
* * *
… Exactly one year later, in March 1245, all four passed away, jumping into the abyss, in the same place, not far from Montsegur.
The Cathars sought to leave this world through ritual suicide ("endur").
"Their teaching permitted voluntary death, but demanded that a person part with life not because of satiety, fear or pain, but for the sake of complete liberation from matter" (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 109; Beguin A. La Quete du Saint Graal. Paris, 1958. P. 77.).
“Death… was a deeply conscious suicide. If a person at the moment when he said to the moment: - Stop, you are so wonderful!”- did not break the union with Mephistopheles, further earthly existence lost its meaning. There was a deep teaching behind this: liberation from the body immediately grants the highest joy - after all, the less it is connected with matter, the higher the joy - if a person in his soul is free from sorrow and lies, the rulers of this world, and if he can say about himself: “I have not lived in vain."
“What does it mean“to live not in vain”according to the teachings of the Cathars? Ran asked, and answered himself:
First, to love your neighbor as yourself, not to make your brother suffer and, as far as possible, to bring comfort and help.
Secondly, not to hurt, above all, not to kill.
Thirdly, in this life, come so close to the Spirit and God that at the hour of death, parting with the world does not grieve the body. Otherwise, the soul will not find peace. If a person did not live in vain, did only good and became good himself, then the “perfect” can take a decisive step, the Cathars said”(O. Ran, Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 110; See: Lot-Borodine M. Trois essais sur Ie Lancelot du Lac et la Quete du Saint-Graal. Paris, 1921, pp. 39-42.).
At the moment of death, the soul of a cathar should not feel any pain, otherwise "there" it will suffer from it as well as in the world. If a person loves his neighbor as himself, he cannot hurt him, the pain of separation. The soul will atone for the pain inflicted on another, wandering from star to star ("along the ledges of purgatory," as Dante would say), constantly postponing reunification with God. Already anticipating God, she - the soul - will feel even more painful excommunication from him (Ran O. Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 110-111.).
The Cathars preferred to use one of five methods of suicide. They could take a deadly poison, refuse to eat, cut their veins, throw themselves into a terrible abyss, or lie on cold stones after a hot bath in winter to get deadly pneumonia. This disease was fraught with an indisputable lethal outcome for them, because the best doctors cannot save a patient who wants to die.
“Qatar always saw death at the stake of the Inquisition and considered this world a hell” (O. Ran, Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002, p. 111; Marx J. La legende arthurienne et le Graal, Paris, 1952. P. 67.). And that world, that beyond the line? There, as the Cathars believed, everything is simpler …
Before his death, the Qatar read a "prayer" composed by him on the eve of his voluntary departure from life:
“If God has greater kindness and understanding than people, shouldn't we in that world acquire everything that we so passionately desired, for which we strove with cruel overcoming of ourselves, with stubborn willpower and … with unheard of heroism?
We looked for a union with God in the Spirit and found him. The limit of human desires is the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, life after death”(O. Ran, Crusade against the Grail. M., 2002. S. 111.).
With this prayer, the Cathar left for another world, left with a pure soul, inspired …
* * *
The history of the Cathars-Albigensians, the Albigensian wars, the storming of Montsegur, the mysterious rescue of the four "perfect" - all this has been known for a long time. But most of the researchers were familiar with the Albigensian history only from secondary sources, few people managed to visit the distant Languedoc. The lucky exception is Otto Rahn, a German archaeologist, historian and talented writer, who is able to express his thoughts in an accessible and uncommon way. But most importantly, he was a fan of the ideas of the teachings of the Cathars, even in the structure of the "Ahnenerbe" he was able to captivate his colleagues with his ideas and form a circle of neo-Cathars around him, professing the same principles as their predecessors, the besieged fortress of Monsegur.
"The Holy Grail and the Third Reich", Vadim Telitsyn