The death of Simon de Montfort, 25 June 1218

ON THIS DAY IN 1218, Simon de Montfort was killed at the siege of Toulouse. A rock fired from a catapult by the women of the town struck his steel helmet and he fell to the ground dead.

There are no memorials to the man who had served as military leader of the Albigensian Crusade since 1209, but this monument at Les Cassés near Saint-Félix-Lauragais was erected in memory of the Cathars who were persecuted by Simon de Montfort and his successors.

Plaques on simple stones record a series of events from the fall of Béziers in 1209 to the year 1321 when the last known Cathar parfait was burned in Villerouge-Termenes. 

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