Peyrepertuse
Encyclopedia
Cathar castles
Cathar castles is a modern term used by the tourism industry to designate a series of fortresses built by the French king on the southern border of his lands at the end of the Albigensian Crusade...
located high in the French Pyrénées
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
in the commune of Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse is a commune in the Aude department in southern France.-Population:...
, in the Aude
Aude
Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
département, and has been associated with the Counts of Narbonne and Barcelona. It stands at 800m high.
The name of Peyrepetuse derived from the ancient language called Occitan and means Pierced Rock. The castle was built on a strategic location along the French/Spanish border by The kings of Aragon (lower) in the 11th Century and by Louis IX (higher) later on. The two castles are linked together by a huge staircase. However, the castle lost importance as a strategic castle when the border of the two countries was moved to the south in 1659
Treaty of the Pyrenees
The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed to end the 1635 to 1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries...
, causing the castle to be abandoned.
During the Albigensian Crusade
Albigensian Crusade
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade was a 20-year military campaign initiated by the Catholic Church to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc...
it served as a Cathar
Cathar
Catharism was a name given to a Christian religious sect with dualistic and gnostic elements that appeared in the Languedoc region of France and other parts of Europe in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th and 13th centuries...
haven and stronghold, but was handed over to French forces without a battle in 1240. Known as one of the "five sons of Carcassonne
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a fortified French town in the Aude department, of which it is the prefecture, in the former province of Languedoc.It is divided into the fortified Cité de Carcassonne and the more expansive lower city, the ville basse. Carcassone was founded by the Visigoths in the fifth century,...
" — several castles along the border between France and Spain — the French fortified the castle in 1242 to protect the border.
Since 1908, the site has been listed as a monument historique
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...
by the French Ministry of Culture.