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Historical person
c. 1175–1218
Simon de Montfort was a French nobleman and military commander who became the principal crusader leader in the Albigensian Crusade.
After joining the campaign in Languedoc in 1209, Montfort acquired lands taken from southern lords and directed sieges and military operations against Cathar communities and their protectors. His rule combined crusading ideology with territorial conquest. He was killed during the siege of Toulouse in 1218.
In Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth, Simon de Montfort represents the organised military force advancing on Carcassonne during the Albigensian Crusade. The novel uses his campaign as the immediate threat surrounding Alaïs and the Cathar community.
Series
The Languedoc Trilogy links three periods of southern French history through recurring landscapes, hidden manuscripts and the long memory of religious violence. Labyrinth moves between the Albigensian Crusade in 1209 and an archaeological discovery in 2005; Sepulchre connects 1891 with a modern investigation; and Citadel follows a women-led…
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