Cathar locks (part of 3)
Horse mighty - I would for the king
Under Balagierom carried patrols sensitively.
In Provence, Cros and Montpellier - Massacre.
And the knights are like a flock of crows,
Shameless bastard robber.
Peire Vidal. Translation by V. Dynnik
The ruins of the castle Peyperpertyuz. As you can see, the castle was ideally tied to the terrain, so getting to its walls was very difficult. And the entrance to it was defended by several walls, one after another!
View of the mountain and the castle of Montsegur. My first thought was how people got there, and most importantly, how did they build this castle there? After all, to look from the bottom and it is hard - the cap falls off!
Yes, but what helped Qatar to hold out for so long against the army of the Crusaders, who in abundance had throwing machines and various projectiles for them? Their faith and fortitude? Of course, this and the other helps in many ways, but Carcassonne gave up because of the lack of water, although it was a first-class fortress at that time. No, the Cathars in France were helped by their locks, built in such hard-to-reach places, that it was extremely difficult to take them by storm or siege. About Carcassonne, which is today the largest fortified citadel of Western Europe, having 52 towers and three whole rings of fortifications with a total length of more than 3 km, there was already a large article on TOPWAR pages, so it makes no sense to repeat. But about many other Cathar castles the story will now continue.
Puylorance Castle
Not far from Carcassonne is Peypertürz Castle, and he, like the neighboring Puilorans, Caribus, Aguilar and Therme castles, was one of the outposts of the Cathars, which were located south of Carcassonne. And it was not just a castle, but a small fortified city at the intersection of the Corbières and Fenuied mountains - with the streets, the cathedral of Sts. Mary (XII-XIII centuries) and fortifications 300 m long and 60 m wide - in fact a kind of Small Carcassonne. The fortress wall, the castle and the donjon Saint-Jordi were built by order of Louis IX, who wished to have an impregnable fortress here. But the old castle located below was built before the crusade against the heretics and belonged to Guillaume de Peiraperties, the most influential lord in these parts. For twenty years, Guillaume fought with the royal troops and conquered the king only after the suppression of the 1240 uprising of the year — the last attempt of the Count of Tranquale to win back Carcassonne.
Just below the fortified village on the spur between the hollows of two rivers at a distance of only half a day on foot from Carcassonne, in the direction to the southeast, the ruins of Senessors Castle Sessak rise. Moreover, the ties between them were long-standing and strong, because Roger II Tranquawel (died in 1194) chose the lord de Sessac as guardian for his nine-year-old son Raymond Roger, the future new viscount of Carcassonne.
In the courtyard of the castle Sessak.
At the end of the 12th century, there were many heretics of both sexes in Sessak: “perfect” and deacons received “believers” in their homes and directly in the castle itself.
Donjon and several vaulted halls that have reached our time date back to the epoch when the castle was captured by Simon de Montfort, who met no resistance here. Senor Sessak himself "went to the partisans" and therefore was considered an exile. Before the establishment of peace, the fortress repeatedly changed hands. In the 13th century it was restored by the French, and in the 16th century it was also rebuilt.
Donjon one of the strongholds of seniors Cabaret.
They used Cathars and four senor cabaret locks — the cabaret castle itself, the Surdespine castle (or Fleurdspin), the Curtine castle and Tour Reginae — real eagle nests on the tops of steep mountains surrounded by gorges and located close to the triangle within direct view of each other. They are also called Lastur castles, since they are located in the commune of the same name. They are only two or three hours on foot to the north of Carcassonne. The mountainous landscape here is harsh, but these lands are rich in deposits of iron, copper, silver and gold, which brought wealth to the Cabar lords. At the end of the XII century, these possessions belonged to the brothers Pierre-Roger and Jourdin de Cabare, the major vassals of the Viscount of Carcassonne. They harbored the heretics and patronized their churches, and hosted the troubadours — the singers of courtly love, which they themselves also indulged in, so that it left a noticeable mark on their family chronicle.
The next castle is the lords of Cabaret. The one that was in the previous photo is visible in the distance. And it becomes absolutely clear that it was simply impossible to besiege all four of these locks at once, and to take them in turn - only time to lose!
Simon de Montfort did not succeed in capturing Cabaret. In 1209, the fighting here did not last long: too many people were required for the simultaneous siege of all the castles, and too much time was needed for their sequential seizure, since the use of siege machines against the locks located on the tops with a steep ascent was excluded. Meanwhile, the garrison, which included a lot of "expelled" seniors, ambushed, attacked a convoy of crusaders from fifty spearmen and one hundred infantrymen and took Senor Pierre de Marley hostage, de Montfort's companion, who at that time was just the three locks and besieged.
Here they are - all the locks of the senors of Cabar one by one ...
At the end of 1210, several seniors leave the cabaret and surrender to the crusaders. Minerva Castle was surrendered, then Terme Castle. Pierre-Roger realized that, in the end, he could not resist, and hurried to save all the "perfect" and "believers" who were with him, after which in 1211 he surrendered to his own prisoner Pierre de Marly, while at the same time saying that surrendered will be saved life.
The modern layout of the Terme castle as it was in 1210.
Ten years later, his son Pierre-Roger Jr. conquered all three of these locks and father’s lands, after which more than thirty rebel lords gathered in the Cabaret, which turned him into one of the centers of resistance of the Cathars, which stopped only in 1229, when Louis IX forced the patrons of their lords to make peace with him. But even before this, all heretics, including their bishop, had been evacuated and sheltered in safe places. The last uprising took place in August 1240, when Raymond Tranquavel again led his army to Carcassonne. Señoram de Cabaret and their mother, the noble lady of Orbri, then managed to regain all these castles, but in October it was all lost again, and this time forever.
When Simon de Montfort captured the region of Minervois in the spring of 1210, he failed to capture two locks: the Minerva and the Vantage. Minerva Castle became a place of refuge for his lord Guillaume de Minerva and several other lords who were expelled from their lands. In mid-June, Montfort approached a castle with a large army. The village and the castle were located on a rocky spur of a limestone plateau, where the gorges of two mountain streams converged, which almost completely dry up in summer. The narrow passage to the plateau was blocked by a castle, the village was surrounded by steep ravines, and the walls and towers of the castle were a continuation of this natural defense, so sending troops to the assault under these conditions turned out to be simply impossible. Therefore, Montfort chose to surround the castle, setting at each position on the catapult, and the most powerful of them, even having a proper name - Malvoisin, Monfort put in his camp.
A non-stop bombardment of the castle began, walls and roofs collapsed, stone cores killed people, the passage to a single well with water was destroyed. On the night of June 27, several volunteers managed to take by surprise and destroy the gun crew at Malvauzin, but they, in turn, were caught in place and did not have time to set it on fire. There was a strong heat, there was no possibility to bury the numerous dead, which greatly facilitated the task of the Crusaders. In the seventh week of the siege, Guillaume de Minerv surrendered, uttering the condition that all the vanquished would be saved. The Crusaders entered the fortress, occupied the Romanesque church (it has survived to the present day) and offered the Cathars to renounce their faith. One hundred and forty "perfect" men and women refused and went up to the fire themselves. The remaining residents went to reconciliation with the Catholic Church. When Minerv was taken, he gave up and Vantazhu. Later, the fortress was destroyed, and only ruins remained of it, including the octahedral tower "La Candela", resembling with its masonry Narbonne Gate in Carcassonne. Only a few stones left here and there today remind of the walls of the once mighty castle of Seniors Minerv.
It was cramped in the castle Munsegur, what to say!
Known to almost everyone who has even heard a little about the Cathars, the castle of Montsegur was built in Ariege on the top of a steep and lonely cliff Raymond de Perey by the son of heretics Guillaume-Roger de Mierpois and his wife Furniers de Perey. This was done at the request of "perfect" of the four Qatari dioceses of Languedoc, gathered in 1206 year in Mironpois. They felt that if information about the impending persecution of them is confirmed, then Montsegur (which means “reliable mountain”) will be a safe haven for them. Raymond de Perey set to work and built a castle on the very steep part of the cliff and a village next to it. From the very beginning of the war in 1209 and until the siege in 1243, Montsegur played the role of refuge where the local Cathars were hiding when the Crusaders approached this area. In 1232, the Toulouse Bishop of Cathars Gilaber de Castres arrived in Montsegur with two assistants and "perfect" - only about thirty high-ranking clergymen accompanied by three knights. He asked Raymond de Pereyat to agree that Montsegur would become “house and head” for his church, and, having weighed all the pros and cons, would take this step.
Donjon Castle Montsegur. Inside view.
Taking as assistants an experienced warrior, and his cousin, and subsequently his son-in-law, Pierre-Roger de Mierpois, he composed the castle garrison of eleven "exiled" knights and sergeants, infantrymen, horsemen and riflemen, organized his defense. In addition, he also provided all the necessary inhabitants of the village located next to him, whose population numbered from 400 to 500 people. Food and feed supplies, escort and protection of the “perfect” during their visits to the villages, land tax collection - all this required constant traveling, therefore the garrison of Montsegur constantly increased, and its influence grew; Many sympathizers, artisans and merchants came to the castle, keeping in touch with the holy people, whose abode could be seen on the horizon from virtually any place in Languedoc.
The first and ineffectual siege of the castle by the troops of the Count of Toulouse, which thus maintained the appearance of cooperation with the king, dates from 1241. In 1242, Pierre-Roger, at the head of the experienced warriors, raided Avignon, killed the priests and brothers-inquisitors gathered there, and devastated everything in his path. This served as a signal for another uprising in the Languedoc, which, however, was brutally suppressed. In 1243, all rebels, except the Cathar of Montsegur, signed the world. The French decided to destroy this nest of heresy and besieged the castle in early June, but until mid-December nothing much happened in its vicinity. Shortly before Christmas, two "perfect" secretly removed the church treasury to the cave of Sabartes. Meanwhile, the royal troops still managed to get to the top, and throwing guns were set at the walls of the castle. It ended with the fact that 2 March, Pierre-Roger de Mierpois, nevertheless surrendered the fortress, soldiers and ordinary people left it, they were saved life and freedom, but the "perfect" of both sexes, including their Bishop Marty, was offered a choice - renounce faith or go to the fire. A few days later, roughly 15 numbers, the fortress was opened, and 257 heretics, men, women, and even children, went up to a fire surrounded by a fence of spears. This place to this day is called the Field of the Burned.
Legend says that in those days when the walls of Montsegur were intact, the Cathars kept the Holy Grail there. When Montsegur was in danger, he was laid siege to the armies of Darkness in order to return the Holy Grail to the tiara of the Prince of the World, from which he fell when the angels fell, at the most critical moment a dove descended from heaven, which with its beak smashed Montsegur into two parts. The keepers of the Grail threw him into the depths of the cleft. The mountain closed again, and the Grail was saved. When the army of Darkness nevertheless entered the fortress, it was already too late. The furious crusaders burned all the accomplished not far from the cliff, there now stands the Pillar of the Burned. All of them died at the stake, except four. When they saw that the Grail was saved, they left through underground passages into the bowels of the Earth and continue to perform their mysterious rites in underground churches there. Such here history about Montsegure and the Grail tell in the Pyrenees still today.
After the capitulation of Montsegur, the peak of Keribus, ascended to the height of 728 m, in the very heart of the Upper Corbières, remained the last impregnable refuge of heretics. There they could stop during their wanderings - some for a while, and some forever. The citadel was surrendered only in 1255 year, eleven years after the capture of Montsegur, most likely after the departure or death of the last "committed", such as, for example, Benoit de Thermes, the main bishop of Razes, about which from the year 1229 he received Asylum in this castle, there was no news. Keribus is a rare type of dungeon with truncated edges; Today it has a large gothic hall open to the public.
Castle Keribus.
Another similar castle - Puilorance, like Keribus, was built on a mountain 697 meters high. At the end of the tenth century, he moved to the abbey of Saint-Michel de Cuix. The French northerners did not succeed in capturing this fortress, in which the seniors expelled from everywhere found shelter. But after the end of the war, it was abandoned. However, this is probably the reason why its defenses are so well preserved: the donjon of the XI-XII centuries. and the serrated clumps with round towers on his sides seem to be challenging to time. It was possible to get into the castle only along a ramp with partitions, and the steepness of the rock protected its walls from stone cores and from possible digs for them.
In the castle of Carcassonne and now you can make a movie, which, by the way, they are doing there!
Puyver Castle is located in the Kerkorb area. It was built in the XII century on the shore of the lake (it disappeared in the XIII century) on a mound, towering over a nearby village. The open landscape here pleases the eyes much more than the wild cliffs, on which most of the Qatari castles are located. And, nevertheless, this castle also belonged to the Cathars - the feudal Congost family, connected by numerous marriage with noble families of heretics throughout Languedoc. So Bernard de Congost married Arpaix de Mierpois, sister of the lord of Montsegur, and his captain's cousin. At Puywere, she surrounded herself with a retinue of enlightened people, poets and musicians, which was fashionable in that era in the Provencal lands and lived to its fullest pleasure, without denying anything to herself. Shortly before the crusade against the heretics, she felt unwell and asked to be taken to the “perfect”, where she died after receiving “consolation” in the presence of her son Guillaume and loved ones. Remained loyal to the Qatari heresy, Bernard died in Montsegur in 1232, while Guillaume and his cousin Bernard de Congost later participated in the devastating raid on Avignon with the Monsegur garrison. Both of them will protect these sacred places to the very end.
This castle itself, when in the autumn of 1210, Montfort approached it with its troops, was held for only three days, after which it was taken and handed over to the French lord Lambert de Turi. At the end of the century, it became the property of the Bruyere family, thanks to which in the 15th century it was greatly expanded and re-enclosed with a magnificent fortress wall. The square donjon of the castle consists of three rooms, one above the other. In the upper hall you can see eight wonderful consoles with sculptural images of musicians and musical instruments, reminiscent of the times of the lady of Arpaix, so far from our days, and belonging to her retinue "troubadours of love".
One of the most unusual Qatari castles is the Ark Castle, built for some reason on a plain. Its walls are low, but there is an impressively large donjon!
Here it is - the donjon of Ark Castle!
Side tower donjon castle Ark. Inside view.
Ark Castle was also erected not in the mountains, but on a plain, and now only its donjon with four corner towers is left from it. The castle wall that surrounded the castle was almost completely destroyed, but the elegant silhouette of a four-story donjon, currently covered with soft pink tiles, rises above the surroundings as before. Its internal structure also testifies to the great skill and ingenuity of the masters of the Languedoc of that distant pore, which managed to create such strong and monumental structures that they resisted not only against the cruelty and unreasonableness of people, but also for many centuries successfully resisted both the forces of nature and even the most implacable time.
And as a memory of that time, at the foot of Montsegur, there is still a cross on the “Field of Burnt”!
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