page_title: Siege of Montségur
section_title: Surrender
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Montségur / Surrender
caption_attribution_description: Montsegur
context_page_description: The Siege of Montségur was a nine-month siege of the Cathar-held Château de Montségur by French royal forces starting in May 1243. After the castle surrendered, about 210 perfecti and unrepentant credentes were burned in a bonfire on 16 March 1244.
context_section_description: Surrender conditions were quickly decided on: All the people in the castle were allowed to leave except those who would not renounce their Cathar faith, primarily the perfecti. A two-week truce was declared. The last two weeks were spent praying and fasting. A number of defenders decided to join the about 190  perfecti and received their consolamentum bringing the total number of Cathar believers destined to burn to between 210 and 215. On 16 March, led by Bishop Bertrand Marty, the group left the castle and went down to the place where the wood for the pyre had been erected.  No stakes were needed: they mounted the pyre and perished voluntarily in the flames.
  The remainder of the defenders, including those who had participated in the murder of the inquisitors, were allowed to leave, among them Raymond de Pereille who was later, like others, subjected to the Inquisition. It has been claimed that three or four perfecti survived; they left the castle by a secret route to recover a treasure of the Cathars that had been buried in a nearby forest in the weeks prior to the surrender. The treasure not only contained material valuables but also documents and possibly relics. Nothing about its whereabouts is known.
caption: Stele commemorating the Cathars from 16 March 1244
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