In between times we crossed the Pyrenees mountains on a road that is to say the least very interesting. Five kilometers of descent in hairpin turns and a slope that defies description. Suffice to say that missing a curve would not be a good thing. After the descent you end up in a gorge where the cliff overhangs the road for most of the 11 kilometers.
Though before that we visited a mountain top castle called Montségur. For those of you who might not know the name it was the final stronghold of the Cathars, a religious group who believed that we should go back to the precepts of Jesus and live simply as the first Christians did. Of course this did not go over well with the pope or the King of France since the Cathars didn't recognize their sovereignty. A crusade was declared, yes that's right a crusade inside Europe, and the king's barons marched in with 10000 troops and of course the Inquisition in tow. They destroyed villages and pillaged the countryside. Finally the only holdout was Montségur perched on top of its lofty crag. The Cathars there held them back until finally the crusaders breached the defenses and captured the fort in March of 1244. Two hundred and twenty of the defenders were burned alive in a pit rather than renounce their faith. It is said in the records that a black pall of smoke hung around the summit for weeks after.
It is a place that has a strange melancholic feeling to it and doesn't leave you indifferent. The castle that is there now is not the original since it was torn down as well as the cathar houses that covered the summit.
-Posted from my iPhone
3 comments:
The nastiness done in the name of ''god''... The mind boggles.
That's horrible! I have to ask: How is it that people who wanted to live simply like the old Christians of Jesus had a castle? Why didn't they just live simply and not make a big deal out of it? I mean most peasants lived simply anyway. Maybe some rich people just didn't want to pay taxes? It's confusing.
Geewits: from what I can gather the castle was built after by the French crusaders after they destroyed the village and it's walls built by the Cathars. When they captured the summit, they destroyed everything there. Today there are only vestiges of the foundations of the cathar houses.
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