"A cursed place on a 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, teeming with majestic ruins, legends and tales about 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 his fame?
“Then I’ll tell you,” said the hermit. "The one who is assigned to sit in this place has not yet been conceived and born, but not even a year will pass before the one who will occupy the Perilous Sitting will be conceived, and he will also obtain the Holy Grail."
Thomas Malory. Death of Arthur
In 1944, in the course of stubborn and bloody battles, the Allies occupied positions recaptured from the Germans. Especially many French and British soldiers were killed 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 landing, 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 came close to the walls of Montsegur, something inexplicable happened. On one of the towers a large flag with an ancient pagan symbol - the Celtic cross - was hoisted.
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 castle's long history full of mystical mysteries. And it began back 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 rather resembled a hill, but its slopes were distinguished by steepness - it was on such mountains that in the old days impregnable castles were laid. It is not for nothing that in the classical French dialect, Montsegur sounds like Mont-sur - Reliable Mountain.
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850 years ago, one of the most dramatic episodes of European history took place in the castle of Montsegur. The Inquisition of the Holy See and the army of the French king Louis IX were besieging the castle for almost a year. But they did not manage to cope with the two hundred heretic Cathars who settled in it. The defenders of the castle could repent and leave in peace, but instead chose to voluntarily go to the fire, thereby keeping their mysterious faith pure.
And to this day there is no unequivocal answer to the question: where did the Qatari heresy penetrate into southern France? The first traces of it appeared in these parts in the XI century. In those days, the southern part of the country, part of the Languedoc county, stretching from Aquitaine to Provence and from the Pyrenees to Crécy, 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 emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, but in nobility, wealth and power he was not inferior to any of his overlords.
While Catholicism prevailed in the north of France, the dangerous Qatari heresy was spreading more and more in the domain of the Counts of Toulouse. According to some historians, she got 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 - "clean"), multiplied like mushrooms after rain.
“There is not one god, there are two who dispute the dominion over the world. This is the god of good and the god of evil. The immortal spirit of mankind is directed towards the god of good, but its mortal shell is drawn to the dark god”- this is how 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 dwell, as a space in which Good triumphs. Therefore, the Cathars easily parted with life, rejoicing in the transition of their souls into the domain of Good and Light.
On the dusty roads of France, strange people roamed about in the pointed caps of Chaldean astrologers, in robes belted with a rope - the Cathars preached their teachings everywhere. The so-called "perfect" - ascetics of the faith who took a vow of asceticism took upon themselves such an honorable mission. They completely broke with their former life, refused property, adhered to food and ritual prohibitions. But all the secrets of the doctrine were revealed to them.
Another group of Cathars included the so-called "profane", that is, ordinary followers. They lived an ordinary life, cheerful and noisy, sinning like all people, but at the same time reverently observed the few commandments that the "perfect" had taught them.
The knights and nobles were especially eager to accept the new faith. Most of the noble families in Toulouse, Languedoc, Gascony, Roussillon became its adherents. They did not recognize the Catholic Church, considering it a product 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 Raymund VI mortally wounded the papal nuncio with a spear blow. While dying, the priest whispered to his murderer: "May the Lord forgive you as I forgive." But the Catholic Church has not forgiven anything. In addition, French monarchs have long had views of the rich Toulouse county: both Philip II and Louis VIII dreamed of annexing the richest lands to their possessions.
The Count of Toulouse was declared a heretic and follower of Satan. The Catholic bishops shouted: “Cathars are vile heretics! We need to burn them out with fire, so that there is no seed left … "For this, the Holy Inquisition was created, which the Pope subordinated to the Dominican order - these" dogs of the Lord "(Dominicanus - domini canus - Lord's dogs).
So a crusade was declared, which for the first time was directed not so much against the Gentiles as against the Christian lands. Interestingly, when the soldier asked how to distinguish Cathars from good Catholics, the papal legate Arnold da Sato replied: "Kill everyone: God will recognize his own!"
The crusaders laid waste to the flourishing southern region. In the city of Béziers alone, having driven the inhabitants to the Church of Saint Nazarius, they killed 20 thousand people. The Cathars were massacred by entire cities. The lands of Raymund VI of Toulouse were taken from him.
In 1243, the only stronghold of the Cathars was only the ancient Montsegur - their sanctuary, turned into a military citadel. Almost all the surviving “perfect” ones gathered here. They did not have the right to carry weapons, since, in accordance with their teaching, it was considered a direct symbol of evil.
Nevertheless, this small (two hundred people) unarmed garrison fought off the attacks of the 10 thousandth Crusader army for almost 11 months! What happened on a tiny patch on the top of the mountain became known thanks to the preserved records of interrogations of the surviving defenders of the castle. They are fraught with an amazing story of courage and resilience of the Cathars, which still boggles the imagination of historians. And there is enough mysticism in it.
Bishop Bertrand Marty, who organized the defense of the castle, was well aware that his surrender was inevitable. Therefore, even before Christmas 1243, he sent two faithful servants from the fortress, who carried on themselves a certain treasure of the Cathars. It is said to be still hidden in one of the many grottoes in Phua County.
On March 2, 1244, when the situation of the besieged became unbearable, the bishop began to negotiate with the crusaders. He was not going to surrender the fortress, but he really needed a reprieve. And he got it. For two weeks of respite, the besieged manage to drag a heavy catapult onto a tiny rocky platform. And the day before the surrender of the castle, an almost incredible event takes place.
At night, four "perfect" descend on a rope from a mountain 1200 meters high and take with them a bundle. The crusaders hastily set up a pursuit, but the fugitives seemed to vanish 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, doomed to death, fanatics and mystics, would hardly risk their lives for gold and silver. And what kind of burden could the four desperate "perfect" ones carry? So the Cathars' "treasure" was of a different nature.
Montsegur has always been a holy place for the "perfect". It was they who built 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, kept sacred relics.
The walls and embrasures of Montsegur were strictly oriented to the cardinal points like Stonehenge, so the "perfect" could calculate the solstice days. The architecture of the castle makes a strange impression. Inside the fortress, you get the feeling that you are on a ship: a low square tower at one end, long walls blocking the narrow space in the middle, and a blunt nose resembling the stem of a caravel.
In August 1964, cavers on one of the walls found some kind of badges, notches and a drawing. It turned out to be a plan of an underground passage going from the foot of the wall to the gorge. Then the passage itself was opened, in which skeletons with halberds were found. A new mystery: who were these people who died in the dungeon? Under the foundation of the wall, the researchers discovered several interesting objects with Qatari symbols inscribed on them.
A bee was depicted on the buckles and buttons. For the "perfect", it symbolized the secret of fertilization without physical contact. A strange 40 centimeter long lead plate was also found, folded into a pentagon, which was considered the hallmark 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 is, apparently, where the strange architecture of Monsegur comes from).
Analyzing it, a prominent expert on 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 Cathar jewels in the vicinity and on Mount Cassino itself. But most of all, researchers are interested in the shrine that four brave souls saved from desecration. Some suggest that the "perfect" possessed the famous Grail. After all, it is not for nothing that even now in the Pyrenees one can hear the following legend:
“When the walls of Montsegur were still standing, the Cathars guarded the Holy Grail. But Montsegur was in danger. Rati Lucifer is located under its walls. They needed the Grail to re-enclose it in their master's crown, from which it fell when the fallen angel was cast down from heaven to earth. At the moment of the highest 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 bowels of the mountain. The mountain closed and the Grail was saved."
For some, the Grail is a vessel into which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ, for others - a dish of the Last Supper, for others - something like a cornucopia. And in the legend of Monsegur, 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 severe ailments, reveal secret knowledge to them. The Holy Grail could only be seen by the pure in soul and heart, and he brought down great troubles on the wicked. Those who became its owners acquired holiness - some in heaven, some on earth.
Some scholars believe that the secret of the Cathars was the knowledge of hidden facts from the earthly life of Jesus Christ. They allegedly possessed 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 evangelical Magdalene, a mysterious person who, probably, was 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 Sau. From there he migrated to one of the cathedrals of Aragon. Then he was allegedly taken to the Vatican. But there is no documentary evidence of this. Or maybe the sacred relic has returned to its sanctuary - Montsegur?
After all, 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 investigated all the abandoned castles, monasteries and temples there, as well as mountain caves. But it was all 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 would hardly have saved him from defeat, as well as those German soldiers who tried to defend themselves within the walls of Montsegur with the help of the ancient Celtic cross. Indeed, 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.