History of the Crusades

the Crusades Episode 153, the Crusade, the Crusade against the Cathars, exit King John.

Hello again. Last week we saw Simon de Monfort besiege the town of Cassini in the Arginay region.

In order to breach the town's defences, the Crusaders needed to cross a river to gain access

to its damaged walls.

After building two inadequate bridges, Simon's men constructed a unique piece of equipment, a siege tower with

a wooden room at its base which operated like a cat.

Under the protection of the structure they slowly filled in a section of the

river and created a causeway which they used to gain access to the walls.

Constructing to bridge to gain access to the walls.

Constructing two bridges and a cat siege tower takes time,

and the siege of Cassanoey lasted from the 28th of June to the 18th of August 1214.

Why did Simon de Monfor spend nearly two months besieging a town of little strategic value? Well, because a man he considered a friend,

the lord of the town, betrayed him by switching allegiance to King John. And Simon de Monfort isn't the type of person to forgive and forget.

Fortunately for the men defending the town, they managed to somehow escape before the Crusaders breached the walls.

No one to this day knows how they managed to do this, as the town was surrounded by either Crusaders or

natural barriers on all sides. Regardless they somehow managed to flee

without being spotted by the Northern Frenchmen.

Peter the Monk, who was present at the siege, makes no mention of the Lord of the town being

present when the Crusaders entered Cassinee and set it on fire.

They killed anyone they came across,

then set about destroying the town itself.

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