Cathar Castle of Montsegur in the Pyrenees in France

The ruins of Montségur are perched at a precarious 1,200 metres 3,900 ft altitude in the south of France near the Pyrenees. Located in the heart of France`s Languedoc-Occitanie regions, 80 km 50 mi southwest of Carcassonne, Montségur dominates a rock formation known as a pog.n 1242 Hugues de Arcis led the military command of about 10,000 royal troops against the castle that was held by about 100 fighters and was home to 211 Perfects who were pacifists and did not fight and civilian refugees.[1] The siege lasted nine months, until in March 1244, the castle finally surrendered. Approximately 220 Cathars were burned en masse in a bonfire at the foot of the pog when they refused to renounce their faith. Some 25 actually took the ultimate Cathar vow of consolamen perfecti in the two weeks before the final surrender. Those who renounced the Cathar faith were allowed to leave and the castle itself was destroyed.

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