Siege of Montségur

Montségur became a refuge for Cathar clergy and supporters after the Albigensian Crusade had brought Languedoc under stronger French and papal control. In 1243 royal forces and local allies began a prolonged siege of the mountain fortress.

The defenders held out through winter before negotiating a surrender in March 1244. More than two hundred Cathars who refused to renounce their faith were burned, making the fall of Montségur a defining episode in the destruction of organised Catharism.

All Things Are Lights opens during the final crisis at Montségur and uses the siege to bring Roland back into contact with Diane and the persecuted Cathar community.