Camí dels Bons Homes - The Good men Trail-

On 2 March 1244, after a year of siege, the Occitan fortress of Montsegur fell. The Catar prefects and believers who did not abjure their faith were burnt in a great bonfire next to the castle, a place known as the Field of the Burnt. Those called «good men» were mercilessly prosecuted by both the Church and the King of France. For the former, the doctrine which sought a return to Christian purity posed a threat. For the latter, fighting heresy was a great

opportunity to conquer new territories. The Catalan king Pere II confronted the French, but was fatally wounded in 1213 in the battle of Muret, in which numerous inhabitants from El Berguedà also fought. The routes that many Occitan people followed to cross the Pyrenees so as to flee barbarity have been the inspiration for creating the Good Men’s Trail. It is an itinerary of around 200 km marked as GR-107, which links Montsegur and Berga. It can be travelled on foot, by mountain bike and on horseback. This route, in addition to offering spectacular landscapes, allows one to evoke the medieval world at both sides of the Pyrenees, and also to remember the propriety of values such as peace, respect and justice.