The Cathars: Cathar Castles
Most
of the main "Cathar Castles" are actualy castles built by
the French after the Cathar Crusade, and used to defend
their new border with Aragon. Being later, and Royal,
they were typically bigger and more advanced than the original
"Cathar Castle". These castles were Royal slighted,
or left to decay, after the Treaty
of the Pyrenees in the seventeenth century. Among
the were Carcassonne
and her five sons: Termes,
Aguilar,
Queribus, Peyrepertuse
and Puilaurens.
There
are a few genuine Cathar Castles, advertised as Cathar Castles:
You will also find a few vestiges near to existing structures
(eg castles at Peyrepertuse,
and Puivert).
Carcassonne
probably has the best claim to be a Cathar Castle, followed
by three quarters of Lastours
(Cabaret).
Among the later French Castles built on the site of Cathar strongholds, (but often advertised as Cathar Castles) are: Coustaussa, Puilaurens, Montségur, Queribus, Termes, Aguilar and Saissac.
There are even French Castles with no Cathar connections, which are sometimes advertised as Cathar Castles: such as Arques.
There are also Cathar Castles that are not advertised as Cathar Castles for various reasons. Among them are: Pieusse (in private hands) Le Bézu (advertised as a Templar Comandery) and Usson (remote and ruined).
Finally
there are a number of sites of Cathar Castles, where nothing
or almost nothing remains: Béziers,
Toulouse,
Bram,
Marmande,
Lavaur,
Minerve,
Beaucaire,
Castelnaudary.
There are also castles of interest because of their links with events during the Cathar period, for example: Avignonet, where Cathar sympathisers massacred Inquisitors. Villerouge Termenès, where the last known Cathar Parfait in the Languedoc was burned alive, and Montaillou, the home of Beatrice de Plannissols, a major character in the events following the arrest of a whole village by the Inquisition on suspicion of Cathar sympathies.
Click here for more on Cathar Castles.
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