Mercilessly persecuted by the Inquisition dissenters as heretics. Court documents show the fate of the village of the south Montaillou. It was considered recalcitrant nest of the Cathars. And was for decades the goal relentless purges.

There is no escape. All know what it means when suddenly the priest knocks on the door and handed over a letter to the sermon – it is the summons of the Inquisition.

Guillaume Fort receives his letter on 6 April 1321, the Monday before Palm Sunday. It says he was the heresy of heresy, and I suspect to appear on Saturday in the city Pamiers before the investigating judges of the Inquisition. He did not come voluntarily, he will be demonstrated.

Thus Guillaume Fort has no choice to run as the arduous hike of around 60 kilometers. But the inquisitor is busy and sends him away, only on Monday he has time again.

The Bishop of Pamiers is forts Inquisitor. After days of interrogation, he brings him to confess everything – it listed in any case the secretary of the Inquisition: that he does not believe in the resurrection of the body after death and heretics see on the true path of God.

For safety’s sake is still recorded in the minutes: “Have you made this confession, because you’re in prison or’ve been tortured?” Continued: “. No. voluntarily” Although the offender renounces everything he hears on 1 August his death sentence. The very next day he is burned as “relapsed” heretics with three other “heretics” alive.

Came from the area around Fort Montaillou, a remote place in the county Foix at the foot of the Pyrenees. On a wooded level with a harsh climate, the village is located in more than a thousand meters in height. About 250 people live here. They belong to 26 families, farmers, ranchers and sheep herders whose families have lived there for centuries.

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