The Cathar Treasure of Montségur

The account

In March 1244, after a ten-month siege, the Cathar fortress of Montségur surrendered and over two hundred believers walked into the pyre rather than recant. But days before the end, the chronicles say, three or four men slipped down the sheer rock by night carrying the Cathars' treasure into the forest, coin, documents, and, the legend insists, sacred relics some have tied to the Holy Grail. It was never found. The mountain has kept its secret for eight centuries.

Leads, where the trail points now

• The legend says four Cathars slipped down the cliff with the treasure the night before the March 1244 surrender; the search zone is the slopes and caves below the Montsegur pog in the French Pyrenees.
• The treasure may have been the sect's money, sacred books, or a relic rather than gold; the lead is the Inquisition testimony, notably of Imbert de Salas, that records the escape.
• Montsegur is a protected monument and the nearby caves of the Sabarthes are folklore targets that have yielded nothing verifiable.