The Treasure of Montsegur: A Novel of the Cathars

Loved this book and could have cried at the end.. I think I actually did. I got lost in this book, forgetting about time & space!

I found that The Treasure of Montsegur spoke to me deeply on many levels. First of all, the story is immensely compelling; all the more so because the facts that it is based on are historically accurate. It's a passionate love-story with a courageous heroine. It's about chase and pursuit-- running for your life at a time of political terror, and yet all throughout, there's this hopeful and optimistic joy that comes with the search for God. Jeanne de Beziers, the main character, filled my heart with her humanity, her brokenness, and the beautiful light which streamed from her in moments of grace. Burnham's use of language is a delight. Her words spill from the page with the vivid intensity of light itself, yet her language is spare and lucid, the images turning in one's mind like a smooth stone in clear water. All through the book you are aware of the question: what was the treasure of Montsegur? I won't give away the end, but the answer leaves you stunned in it's simplicity and truth.This book speaks not only to historical oppression, but has chilling echoes in our own times. Far too many innocents have suffered under the banner of 'national interests', or religious fundamentalism. Separated by the distance of time, we can clearly see how wrong the Inquisitors in the 1200's were to be so intolerant of the Cathars. The Treasure of Montsegur helped me to reflect on our own times, when the narrow righteousness found in all kinds of fundamentalism still continues to be meshed with greed and economic power. At this point in history, the voices of thinking people, the voices of the disenfranchised, and the voices of artists are calling so loudly for humanity to wake up. This book is a brilliant note in that clarion call.Sophy Burnham wrote those beautiful books on angels and also on prayer (The Path of Prayer, another life-changing book!) Montsegur is a treasure worth reading because it points a vivid ray of light toward the kernel of love and spiritual truth hidden in human beings. You come away thinking a long time about these historical events, and about Jeanne, this haunting heroine. Without being obvious or awkward, The Treasure of Montsegur deftly shines a light on our own times, and on the spiritual nature of the human being. It gave me not only food for thought, but inspiration as well.

I wish I had been the agent to sell this book! I loved every page of this book and recommended it to all of my friends and clients. Not only is it an incredible story, but it is also a fantastic example of historical fiction. The history is accurate down to such items as what the people ate, how they lit their houses, whether they had chimneys. . . It is so full of information, but in addtition, I was swept up by the tragic story of the massacre at Montsegur, which is well known in France and has hardly been heard about in the United States. This is a true story. A lost treasure, the search for God by both Catholic and Cathar followers of Christ, and the resultant righteous persecution of one group by another makes this a very timely book. I disagree completely with the one-star review above. The inquisition was terrible and my research shows that Sophy Burnham is very accurate in her depiction of the times. It will take me a long time to forget the haunting heroine Jeanne. You have to read this book!

This is a story of the mysterious Cathar heretics of Montsegur, a sect of Christian rebels in the 13th century. It has everything as The Washingon Post review makes clear: "sure-footed...a big-tent sensibility...genuine enthusiasm." Four of the Cathars escape their fiendish Inquisitional enemies and what follows is a tale of adventure, of a breathtaking love triangle haunted by religious doubts, of heartrending endurance on mountain trails and finally a kind of transfiguring peace. Whether read as history, romance, or religious passion, this is one of the year's masterpieces --by a brilliant explorer of the souls' deep caverns.

I am absolutely delighted with this novel. Rarely do I come across a novel that fully engages me on so many levels. Even more rare that such a novel would be set in 1200 France, as my tolerance for historical fiction in general is pretty low. Yet this novel captivated me. From the first paragraph I was hooked and wanted to know more. In the midst of a very busy work and life schedule, I found myself stealing time to read a page here, a chapter there. Excited about getting to the end but not wanting to really finish the book. "The Treasure of Montsegur" is written in the tradition of a tragic love story, yet its historical relevance is not diminished. The author provides a well-researched background on the Catholic Crusades in France that tortured and killed thousands of people during the 1200s. The novel is framed in the axiom that history repeats itself and is richly layered with historical, religious, spiritual, and tragic elements of the period. Burnham tells the story in voices as layered as the storyline. The novel centers on the life of a woman named Jeanne. Found in a field by Cathers after the Crusaders raid her village. Jeanne is raised in the Cather faith and eventually becomes a revolutionary in the struggle to maintain the faith despite the Catholic Inquisitions. Jeanne is a fully realized character who loves, sins, betrays, falls, rises, heals. Using both narrative and first person (Jeanne), the author educates the reader on the horrors of the Cather annihilation while at the same time inviting the reader on a spiritual journey of love. Burnham's writing is absolutely superb. The rhythm of the language and choice of words creates a reading space that provides immediate access to the period and the conditions under which people lived and tried to navigate their way through religious domination and spiritual fulfillment. On many occasions I had to research words and go beyond the first definition to find an archaic definition that would provide greater meaning to the sentence. At times, the reading experience was very much like piecing together a puzzle. The satisfaction of completing a puzzle comparable to the delight experienced each time I found a definition that fit. The story further motivated me to research the actual massacre at Montsegur, leaving me much better informed on the subject than I was prior to reading the novel.I certainly hope that this novel finds its way into the classroom. What a wonderful way to initiate discussion on the Catholic Inquisitions. After having found an advanced reader's copy of the novel at a thrift shop, I consider this to be one of my greatest reading treasures. Highly recommended!