Cathar castles
Cathar castles (in French Châteaux cathares) are a group of medieval castles located in the
True "Cathar castles"
Cathar strong points were generally surrounded by a walled settlement - ranging from a small village to a sizable city - known as a
When they were taken by the Catholic Crusaders they were generally offered to senior Crusade commanders who would replace the local lord as master of the castle and the surrounding area.[2] The old lords, sometimes Cathar sympathisers, were dispossessed and often became refugees or guerrilla resistance fighters known as "faidits". The new French lords generally built themselves a new state-of-the-art castle, sometimes on the site of the old "Cathar castle", sometimes next to it, as at Puivert. In some places, notably Carcassonne and Foix, substantial parts of the existing castles date from the Cathar period.
Royal citadels
Following the failure of the attempt to recapture
The King of France took as frontier fortresses Cathar castles near the border between the historic Trencavel territories and the Roussillon, which still belonged to the King of Aragon. Five of these became Royal citadels, garrisoned by a small troop of French royal troops. These five Cathar Castles are known as the cinq fils de Carcassonne, the Five Sons of Carcassonne:
- Château d'Aguilar
- Château de Peyrepertuse
- Château de Puilaurens
- Château de Quéribus
- Château de Termes
Abandonment of the Five Sons of Carcassonne
In 1659,
Other "Cathar castles"
- Château d’Arques
- Château de Durfort
- Châteaux de Lastours
- Château de Montségur
- Château de Padern
- Château de Pieusse
- Château de Puivert
- Rennes-le-Château
- Château de Roquefixade
- Château de Saissac
- Château d'Usson
See also
External links
- Association des Sites du Pays Cathare: historical and tourist information
- Castle of Termes official website, in English.
- About France The story of the Cathars in Languedoc, and a short guide to Cathar heritage
- Cathar Country Cathars, Cathar Beliefs and Cathar Castles.
- Cathar Castles Cathar Castles: History, Location and Photographs.
- Map showing Cathar Castles in the Languedoc
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Arnold, John H, Inquisition & Power, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 0-8122-3618-1.
- Barber, Malcolm (2000), The Cathars: Dualist heretics in Languedoc in the High Middle Ages, Harlow: Longman, ISBN 978-0582256620
- Berlioz, Jacques (1994), Tuez-les tous Dieu reconnaîtra les siens. Le massacre de Béziers et la croisade des Albigeois vus par Césaire de Heisterbach (in French), Loubatières.
- Given, James (1992). Inquisition and Medieval Society: Power, Discipline, and Resistance in Languedoc. ISBN 978-0801487590.
- Cathars and Cathar Belief, 9 March 2016
- Lambert, Malcolm (1998). The Cathars. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0631143437.
- Lambert, Malcolm (2002). Medieval Heresy: Popular Movements from the Gregorian Reform to the Reformation. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0631222767.
- Lansing, Carol (1998). Power and Purity: Cathar Heresy in Medieval Italy. ISBN 978-0195149807.
- ISBN 978-0807615980.
- Madaule, Jacques (1967). The Albigensian Crusade: An Historical Essay. New York: Fordham UP.
- ISBN 978-0631144045.
- ISBN 0-8020-7659-9.
- ISBN 978-1405129640.
- ISBN 9781846682001.
- McDonald, James (9 March 2016), Cathar Castles
- O'Shea, Stephen (2000). The Perfect Heresy: The Revolutionary Life and Death of the Medieval Cathars. New York: Walker & Company. ISBN 978-1861972705.
- Pegg, Mark (2001), "On Cathars, Albigenses, and good men of Languedoc", Journal of Medieval History, 27 (2): 181–190, .
- Pegg, Mark (2001b), The Corruption of Angels: The Great Inquisition of 1245–1245, ISBN 978-0691006567
- Pegg, Mark (2008). A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade and the Battle for Christendom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195171310.
- Petrus, Sarnensis (1998). The history of the Albigensian Crusade. Translated by Sibly, W. A.; Sibly, M. D. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-0-8511-5658-3.
- ISBN 978-0571200023.
- Wakefield, Walter Leggett; Evans, Austin P (1991). Heresies of the High Middle Ages. Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231096324.
- Weis, René (2001). The Yellow Cross: The Story of the Last Cathars 1290–1329. New York: Random House.
Further reading
- Aué, Michèle (1992). Discover Cathar Country. Pleasance, Simon (trans.). Vic-en-Bigorre, France: MSM. ISBN 2-907899-44-9.
- Cowper, Marcus (2006). Cathar Castles: Fortresses of the Albigensian Crusade 1209-1300. Peter Dennis (illustrator). Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1846030666.