France. Montsegur and other castles of the Cathars. Montsegur: The Last Refuge of the Holy Grail Field of Burnt Montsegur

Mount Montsegur (Château de Montségur) in the plan of my trip to Provence was designated as a place to visit.

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

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

Many people believe in the legend, for example, the researcher Otto Rahn, the author of the book “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 cone. You can climb to the top only on foot, 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 hiking uphill sells tickets to enter the fortress until seven o'clock in the evening. At 19.00 his working day ends, he goes home, and the entrance to Montsegur becomes free; that is why, with the onset of twilight, the number of those 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 ascent, we find ourselves on a field of fires. It received its telling name after the events of March 1244, when more than 200 Cathars were burnt right here - last defenders fortress of Montsegur.

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

In the photo: a map of the spread of catharcism in Europe

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

For more than a decade of crusade wars, 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 was later “famous” for hunting witches.

The last followers of Catharcism took refuge in the fortress of Montsegur, which, at the beginning of the war, Simon de Montfort, the leader of the Pope's army, tried to take, but he did not succeed. In the summer of 1243, the army of the crusade again stormed Montsegur (the reason for this was the murder of several inquisitors by the opponents of the pope). The mountain was taken in a tight ring, and the defenders of the fortress were under siege. Montsegur held out in a state of siege for a year, such a long period is 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 army of the cross managed to approach the walls of the fortress, and on March 16, 1244, Montsegur was forced to surrender. The Crusaders offered a pardon to the Cathars if they renounced their beliefs, but no one was willing to do so. Now a Qatari cross has been erected at the site of the mass execution, reminiscent of the tragedy.

Next - 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 district, failed to conquer Montsegur: catapults, which were the main weapon for bombing the fortress walls, cannot be pushed uphill so easily. And the crusaders managed to surround the walls of the castle only after the traitors showed them secret paths, without knowing which it is almost impossible to climb up.

From the fortress itself, only ruins now remain: laid out from gray stones the walls where lizards live, and the foundations of the tower - time completed what was started by the crusaders, and the invaders, on the orders of the Pope, destroyed the fortress almost to the ground.

In the photo: the walls of Montsegur, which have survived 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 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 probably believed, not without reason, that on the night before the assault, several people with the treasure went down the sheer wall of the fortress and took refuge in the surrounding forests (this version is also set out in the Soviet film "Maria Medici's Casket"). One way or another, since then no one has seen the Grail, 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, above which flocks of swallows rush, a light gray haze of fog rising from the ground twitches the piercing blue sky with a silvery translucent veil. Despite everything that happened here tragic events, Montsegur does not give the impression of a gloomy place. Rather mysterious and immensely sad.

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Julia Malkova- Julia Malkova - founder of the website project. In past Chief Editor Internet project elle.ru and editor-in-chief of the cosmo.ru website. I talk about traveling for my own pleasure and the pleasure of readers. If you are a representative of hotels, tourism office, but we are not familiar, you can contact me by email: [email protected]

Long time ago in XI-XIV centuries in the south of France in the land of Languedoc lived people who called themselves Cathars, which in Greek (“katharos”) meant “pure”. They believed that there is no single god, but there are two: the gods of good and evil, contesting dominance over the world. The immortal spirit of mankind aspires to the god of goodness, but its mortal shell reaches out to the dark god. In life, the Cathars adhered to asceticism. Eating meat, even cheese and milk, was considered a mortal sin. The Cathars rejected icons and the need for churches, and worship consisted solely of reading the gospel. They wore pointed caps on their heads and actively spread their teachings among the gullible population. Ultimately, their teachings spread to other parts of Europe, creating a real threat to the Catholic Church.

It is not surprising that the Catholic bishops recognized the Cathars as heretics and organized the Albigensian Crusade with the leitmotif: "The Cathars are vile heretics! We must burn them with fire, so that no seed remains." To the question of one of the warriors, how to distinguish a Cathar from a decent Catholic, the answer was received: "Kill everyone: God will recognize his own!" started Holy war, in which the Cathars were massacred by entire cities. By 1243, the last stronghold of the Cathars was Montsegur castle located on a high mountain. Its siege lasted 11 months, several hundred Cathars held back the attacks of ten thousand crusaders. In February 1244, Montsegur was taken, and the Cathars, who refused to renounce their faith, were burned by the Holy Inquisition. The legend says that despite the siege, the Cathars managed to take out and hide their treasures, and a few days before the fall of Montsegur, four daredevils managed to descend the steep cliffs on ropes and carry something valuable with them. According to some assumptions, these were the archives of the Cathars and objects of religious worship, among which could be the Holy Grail - a cup in which the blood of Christ was collected.

Having learned about this story, I wanted to visit these legendary places and see everything with my own eyes, so Montsegur Castle from the very beginning got into the route of our road trip through Europe.

We drove to the castle of Montsegur from Carcassonne on a very picturesque road. Along the edges are green hills and fields, and ahead are the snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees.

The castle becomes visible even from afar, and the first thought that arises when you see it: how did they build it so high? Aren't they tired of carrying stones, water, food, etc. there?

At the foot of the mountain there is a spacious parking lot, from which a path leads to the castle. Somewhere in the middle of the trail there is a booth in which you need to pay to visit the castle (something around 5 euros). By the way, the booth is open until 5 pm, and after that time there is no one to pay, and the path upstairs does not disappear from this, so, lovers of freebies, draw your own conclusions ;-)

The ascent takes about half an hour - even a child can do it.

Inside the castle turned out to be quite small - it was a little crowded here, probably, it was besieged.

In some places, behind the more recent, restored masonry, the original can be seen.

But, unfortunately, even these ruins have nothing to do with the events of the XIII century, because after the capture of the fortress by order of the Pope, it was destroyed to the ground, and the current buildings were restored and modernized much later by royal architects.

The stairs to the top are blocked by a chain with a prohibition sign. Naive! Can this stop a person with a camera?

This is what the fort looks like from above. It has the shape of a pentagon, which was considered a symbol of the "pure". The Cathars deified the pentagon, considering it a symbol of the dispersion of matter, a symbol of dispersion and the human body.

Below you can see the village, which was most likely founded by the builders of the current castle around 1580.

There is another staircase in the castle, not fenced off by anything, but for some reason there is no desire to climb it... =)

One of the towers is well preserved.

What can not be said about the spiral staircase.

The views around are excellent, even despite the cloudy weather. The piercing wind just blew down.

The mountain next to Montsegur, immersed in a cloud and parking on the road.

Needless to say, according to the law of meanness, when we went down, the clouds scattered, the wind disappeared, and the warm evening sun came out.

It was already around 6 pm, and we still did not have a clear plan where to go next and where to spend the night, so we decided to drive towards the small town of Foix, looking for a place to spend the night along the way. For some reason, the navigator told me to leave the main road and took us to the village of Soula, where we found an excellent guest house Infocus-Du-Sud. A sign near the door proudly announced that this guesthouse on Booking had a rating of 8.7. As it turned out, the price on the same Booking is €85, which was a bit too much for our budget, but the hosts gave us a discount for paying directly with them, and we decided to stay here.

The hosts Dirk and Lin were a very pleasant elderly couple who came here from Belgium. They fed us a delicious breakfast, kindled a fireplace especially for us in a separate living room, which, by and large, had nothing to do with our room, and Leo really liked to go to the garden and count the chickens running there.

The room was clean and comfortable, and the views from the window of the Pyrenees were just awesome. We liked it there so much that instead of one night, we stayed for three. It is worth noting that this was only possible because it was at the end of March and the season had not started yet. As the hosts said, for the summer most of the places were already booked in advance. In general, the guest house lives up to its high rating.

The next day we went to the nearest town to wash clothes and buy groceries.

On the way back, near the village of Rokfiskad, we noticed another castle on the mountain, and decided to take a walk to it too.

In the village, I was pleased with one hotel with a lot of homemade decorations. What are old sneakers-vases worth!

And "wind music" from old spoons and forks?

A path leads from the village to the castle with a sign that matches Leo's hat.

Just like Montsegur was the refuge of the Cathars during the Albigensian Crusade. And just like in Montsegur, these ruins have nothing to do with the times of the Cathars, since the original castle was destroyed by order of Louis XIII, and these buildings belong to a later period.

But nevertheless, the ruins of the castle and the views from the mountain are worth it to spend an hour climbing. Once again, Leo pleased us by going all the way without any problems.

It turned out that the castle is not at the very top, and from it you can climb even higher to the neighboring mountain.

From here the ruins of the castle look even more romantic...

And even sinister.

And another castle we visited is Foix. This French city is known as the capital of the Cathar movement, and the castle was the residence of the counts who became leaders of the resistance during the Albigensian Crusade.

This castle, unlike the previous two, the crusaders did not manage to capture, and it was captured only once in 1486 during a conflict between two branches of the de Foix family, and even then because of betrayal.

This concludes the historical excursion about the Cathars, and we go even higher to the mountains, to the very heart of the Pyrenees - a small but very proud state of Andorra.

The secret of Montsegur castle

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 and born, but not even a year will pass before the one who occupies the Deadly Sitting will be conceived, and he will also get the Holy Grail.

Thomas Mallory. "Death of Arthur"

"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 with the German Brocken. To what tragic events does Montsegur owe his fame?

In 1944, during stubborn and bloody battles, the Allies occupied positions recaptured from the Germans. Especially many French and English soldiers died on the strategically important height of Monte Cassino, trying to take possession of the castle of Montsegur, where the remnants of the 10th german army. The siege of the castle lasted 4 months. Finally, after massive bombardments 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 came close to the walls of Montsegur, something inexplicable happened. On one of the towers a large flag was hoisted with an ancient pagan symbol - a Celtic cross. This ancient Germanic ritual was usually resorted to only when help was needed. higher powers. But all was in vain, and nothing could help the invaders.

This case was far from the only one in the long and full of mystical mysteries of the history of the castle. And it began in the VI century, when a monastery was founded by Saint Benedict in 1529 on Mount Cassino, which was considered a sacred place since pre-Christian times. Cassino was not very high and rather looked like a hill, but its slopes were steep - it was on such mountains that in the old days impregnable castles were laid. Not without reason, in the classical French dialect, Montsegur sounds like Mont-sur - Reliable mountain.

850 years ago, one of the most dramatic episodes played out in the castle of Montsegur European history. The Inquisition of the Holy See and the army of the French king Louis IX besieged the castle for almost a year. But they never managed to cope with the two hundred heretic Cathars who 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, thus keeping their mysterious faith pure.

And to this day there is no unequivocal answer to the question: where did the Cathar heresy come from in southern France? Its first traces appeared in these parts in the 11th century. In those days, the southern part of the country, which was 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 terms of nobility, wealth and power he was not inferior to any of his overlords.

While Catholicism dominated 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 Manicheans of Asia Minor and Syria. The number of those who were later called Cathars (in Greek - "clean") multiplied like mushrooms after rain. “There is no one god, there are two who dispute dominance over the world. It is the god of good and the god of evil. The immortal spirit of mankind aspires to the god of goodness, but its mortal shell reaches out to the dark god - so the Cathars taught. At the same time, our earthly world they considered 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 life, rejoicing in the transition of their souls to the domain of Good and Light.

Strange people in the pointed caps of Chaldean astrologers, in clothes girded with rope, traveled along the dusty roads of France - the Cathars everywhere preached their doctrine. Such an honorable mission was undertaken by the so-called "perfect" - ascetics of the faith, who took a vow of asceticism. They completely broke with their former lives, renounced 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 ordinary life, cheerful and noisy, they sinned like all people, but at the same time they reverently observed the few commandments that the “perfect ones” taught them.

The knights and the nobility were especially willing to accept the new faith. Most 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 occurred on January 14, 1208, on the banks of the Rhone, when, during the crossing, one of Raymond VI's squires mortally wounded the papal nuncio with a spear. Dying, the priest whispered to his murderer: "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 issued a cry: “The Cathars are infamous heretics! It is necessary to burn them with fire, so much so that there is no seed left ... ”For this, the Holy Inquisition was created, which the Pope subordinated to the Order of the Dominicans - these“ dogs of the Lord ”(Dominicanus - domini canus - Lord's dogs). So the crusade was announced, which for the first time was directed not so much against the Gentiles, but against the Christian lands. Interestingly, when asked by a soldier about how to distinguish 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. Cathars were slaughtered by entire cities. The lands of Raymond VI of Toulouse were taken from him.

In 1243, only the ancient Montsegur remained the only stronghold of the Cathars - their sanctuary, turned into a military stronghold. Almost all the surviving "perfect" 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. Nevertheless, this small (two hundred people) unarmed garrison fought off the attacks of the 10,000th crusader army for almost 11 months! About what happened on a tiny patch on the top of the mountain, it became known thanks to the surviving records of interrogations of the surviving defenders of the castle. They conceal an amazing story of courage and resilience of the Cathars, which still amazes the imagination of historians. Yes, there is a lot of 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 a certain treasure of the Cathars. It is said 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 was not going to surrender the fortress, but he really needed a delay. 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 unbelievable event takes place. At night, four "perfect" descend on a rope from a mountain 1200 meters high and take away a bundle with them. The crusaders hastily gave chase, but the fugitives seemed to have vanished into thin air. Soon two of them showed up in Cremona. They proudly spoke about the successful outcome of their mission, but what they managed to save is still unknown. Only the cathars, hardly doomed to death - fanatics and mystics - would risk their lives for the sake of gold and silver. And what kind of burden could four desperate "perfect" carry? So 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 fellow believer 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 days of the solstice. 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 out a narrow space in the middle, and a blunt prow, reminiscent of a caravel stem.

In August 1964, cavers found some badges, notches and a drawing on one of the walls. It turned out to be a plan of an underground passage leading from the foot of the wall to the gorge. Then the passage itself was opened, in which skeletons with halberds were found. A new riddle: who were these people who died in the dungeon? Under the foundation of the wall, the researchers found several interesting objects with Qatari symbols applied to them. A bee was depicted on the buckles and buttons. For the "perfect" she symbolized the secret of fertilization without physical contact. A strange lead plate 40 centimeters long 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, apparently, is where the strange architecture of Montsegur comes from). Analyzing it, Fernand Niel, a prominent specialist in catarrhs, emphasized that it was in the castle itself that “the key to the rites was laid - a secret that the “perfect” took with them to the grave.”

Until now, there are many enthusiasts who are looking for buried treasures, gold and jewels of the Cathars in the vicinity and on Mount Cassino itself. But most of all, researchers are interested in the shrine, which was saved from desecration by four daredevils. Some suggest that the "perfect" wielded the famous Grail. Indeed, it is not for nothing that even now in the Pyrenees one can hear such a legend: “When the walls of Montsegur were still standing, the Cathars guarded the Holy Grail. But Montsegur was in danger. The armies of Lucifer are located under its walls. They needed the Grail to re-enclose it in the crown of their lord, from which it fell when the fallen angel was cast 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 in which Joseph of Arimathea collected the blood of Christ, for others - the dish of the Last Supper, for others - 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, reveal secret knowledge to them. The Holy Grail could only be seen by the pure in heart and soul, and it brought down great misfortunes on the wicked. Those who became its owners acquired holiness - some in heaven, some on earth.

Some scientists believe that the secret of the Cathars was 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 into the Holy Grail. The gospel Magdalene took part in this - a mysterious person who, probably, was his wife. It is known that she reached Europe, from which it follows that the descendants of the Savior gave birth to the Merovingian dynasty, that is, the genus 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. Then he was allegedly taken to the Vatican. But there is no documentary evidence for this. Or maybe the sacred relic returned to its sanctuary again - Montsegur? After all, it was not for nothing that Hitler, who dreamed of world domination, so stubbornly 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 had 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 an ancient Celtic cross. Indeed, according to legend, the unrighteous guardians of the Grail and those who sow Evil and death on earth are overtaken by God's wrath.

MONTSEGURE - THE LAST STRONG OF THE CATHARS In June 1209, in San Gillier, one of the towns of Languedoc, a solemn rite of church repentance was performed by Count Raymond of Toulouse. The powerful sovereign - a relative of the kings of English, Aragon and French - humbled himself