E1324 - Burn The Heretics!

Over 200 people were burned at the stake on 16th March, 1244, throwing themselves on to the pyre in their refusal to accept the Catholic church.

These ‘Cathars’ reportedly followed a radical dualist belief system, seeing the material world as the creation of an evil force, with salvation lying in renouncing earthly pleasures. After years of persecution, on this day they found themselves trapped in Montségur Castle, perched atop a dramatic limestone peak.

But many historians now believe the Cathars, as a distinct heretical movement, never actually existed. The term “Cathar” wasn’t even used at the time. I...