When Jacques-Charles Dominique de l’Arago, duc d’Tiselly, converted to the Cathar faith in 1201, it represented an enormous boon for them. As a powerful Languedoc nobleman, he brought land, troops, official institutional support, and perhaps most importantly, prestige. Conversions of Catholics in Tiselly proceeded at a highly accelerated rate, despite rumors that the duc d’Tiselly had not fully embraced the faith himself.

When the Albigensian Crusade began in 1209, the crusading armies descended on Tiselly in full force, their lords having been promised the duc’s lands if they were purged of heresy. Insinuations to the contrary aside, the duc d’Tiselly certainly fought hard enough in defense of the Cathars; while armies flowed about his lands like water, the Chateau d’Tiselly held out until 1215, falling shortly before Toulouse. All those within the chateau walls were massacred.

And the small golden casket that the duc d’Tiselly had carried with him at the time of his conversion? It was lost in the struggle, and buried beneath the detritus of savage battle.