Treasure of Montsegur the Novel the Treasure

¶ … Treasure of Montsegur

The novel The Treasure of Montsegur by Sophy Burnam (Harper/San Francisco, 2003), set in France in the year 1252, uses as its setting and historical backdrop the atmosphere of southern France during the 13th Roman Catholic Crusade led by Pope Innocent III, against a Christian sect of southern France, the Cathars. A Cathar woman, Jeanne of Beziers, is the main character. Historically speaking, Catharism:

was a religious movement with Gnostic elements that originated around the middle of the 10th century, branded by the contemporary Roman Catholic

Church as heretical. It existed throughout much of Western Europe, but its home was in Languedoc and surrounding areas in southern France.

("Cathar")

According to Wikipedia, not much is known about daily lives of the medieval Catharists, or about their specific religious or moral practices. However, "What is certain is that they formed an anti-sacerdotal party in opposition to the Catholic Church, and raised a continued protest against perceived corruption of the clergy" (Wikipedia).

The Treasure of Montsegur vividly depicts how medieval religious conflict and religious warfare combine to impact individual characters' lives and destinies, and the life and destiny of one fictional woman in particular, Jeanne of Beziers.

Jeanne, whose first words to the reader are "hey say I am mad . . . I have seen enough to drive anyone mad" (p. 1) is found as a baby by Cathar survivors of the latest Catholic massacre against them. In Moses-like fashion, Jeanne is then adopted and raised by them as one of their own. Under the thoughtful, meditative guidance of Lady Esclarmonde (whose name translates as "light of the world" (p. 2)) Jeanne and her friend Baiona are carefully schooled in Cathar practices and traditions. From that upbringing the girls learn that God may best be reached through silence, contemplation, and prayer. Jeanne's friend Baiona takes naturally and effortlessly to such teachings, but Jeanne herself is a restless and free spirit by comparison -- and not much given to the Cathar practices of stillness, meditation, and prayer.

Jeanne grows up and falls in love with William, who fights for Cathar freedom against Catholic persecution and tyranny. A love triangle forms when William then falls for Jeanne's best childhood friend, Baiona. But then William goes back to Jeanne. The resolution of the book occurs after Jeanne escapes from the Montsegur fortress, where she had been trapped, along with Baiona, and William, and more Cathars are killed. After her escape, Jeanne discovers how and why it is her own fate to discover and preserve the treasure of Montsegur.

Sophy Burnham brings both medieval history and bloody religious conflict to life, seamlessly blending real events (e.g., the 13th Roman Crusade) with fictional ones, e.g., Jeanne's own internal and external difficulties and conflicts. The Treasure of Montsegur also depicts fictionally the daily lives of medieval women and men of this time and place.

In reality, however, a Medieval Frenchwoman like Jeanne would have been relatively unimportant in that world, a patriarchal and militaristic one. As Gies and Gies observe: The great, external, dramatic events of the day, the wars and crusades, are the work of active men" (p. 26). Further,

. . . A woman under feudalism spent most of her life under the guardianship of a man -- of her father until she married, of her father's lord if her father died, and of her husband if she was widowed. The lord pocketed the income of his ward's estate until she married, and she had to marry a man of his choice or lose her inheritance. The practice was universal, and continued into the later Middle Ages. (p. 28)

Clearly, as the protagonist and heroine of Treasure of Montsegur Jeanne manages, even if not easily, to act with relative independence, free will, and autonomy. In truth women like Jeanne were likely relatively rare during the feudal Middle Ages. Within Catharism itself, however, "Women were treated as equals, because their physical form was irrelevant; their soul could have been a man's soul before, and it might once again become one" (Wikipedia).

The medieval Catholic Church of Pope Innocent III viewed Cathars as heretics, since they did not believe, as Catholics do, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to Lindsay Gross, other perceived blasphemies "included translating the Bible into the vernacular, refusing to tithe to the Church, and dismissing the pope's authority."

Slaughter of any group that believes differently from one's own is never objectively either justified or justifiable. The Catholic Church of the 13th century clearly believed differently, however, in relation to the Cathars. The answers to the key questions of rather or not the 13th Roman Crusade against the Cathars in particular, by Pope Innocent III was justified, and if so, why, are lost to history. During Pope Innocent III's reign, the Catholic Church, justifiably or not, considered the Cathars an threat. The Cathars, despite the long, bloody Catholic violence against them, apparently maintained the courage of their convictions throughout the 13th Roman Crusade. Still there is no question today of which religion "won": Catharism as a sect of Christianity has long been dead.