The Château de Puivert (

Languedocien Languedocien (French name, ), Languedocian or Lengadocian (), is an Occitan dialect spoken in rural parts of southern France such as Languedoc, Rouergue, Quercy, Agenais and Southern Périgord. It is sometimes also called Languedocien-Guyennai ...

: ''Castèl de Puègverd'') is a so-called Cathar castle situated in the ''

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

'' of

Puivert Puivert (; Languedocien: ''Puègverd'') is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in southern France. History In the 12th century a castle (Château de Puivert) stood on this site which had strong links to both Cathars and t ...

, in the

Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region and named after the river Aude (river), Aude. The departmental council also calls it "Ca ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'' of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The castle has been classified as a ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the Government of France in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, ...

since 1902. This building, on top of a hill overhanging the village and its lake, reaches an elevation of 605 m. The site is in the Quercob region, south of

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

and east of

Foix Foix (; oc, Fois ; ca, Foix ) is a commune, the former capital of the County of Foix. It is the capital of the department of Ariège as it is the seat of the Préfecture of that department. Foix is located in the Occitanie region of southwe ...

History

The first castle

The construction of the present castle dates from the 12th century. The first mention is in 1170; it belonged to the Congost family before the

Albigensian Crusade The Albigensian Crusade or the Cathar Crusade (; 1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown ...

. These lords practised

Catharism Catharism (; from the grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follow ...

and were accused as heretics. Then, in November 1210, the castle was subjected for three days to a siege by the army of Thomas Pons de Bruyère, lieutenant of

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

. The castle subsequently became the property of the northern barons. All that is left of this older castle is a few sections of wall to the east. A collapse of the natural dam on the lake at the foot of the site caused the destruction of part of the town of

Mirepoix A mirepoix ( ; ) is a flavor base made from diced vegetables cooked—usually with butter, oil, or other fat—for a long time on low heat without coloring or browning, as further cooking, often with the addition of tomato purée, creates a dark ...

, 30 km to the north, in Ariège in 1279. According to legend, this was because a certain Dame Blanche wanted to daydream on the lake shores, which were inaccessible in bad weather. She asked that the water level be lowered and work undertaken to accomplish this goal led to the collapse.

The present castle

At the start of the 14th century, Thomas de Bruyère (grandson of Pons) and his wife Isabelle de Melun had the new castle built to the east of the old castle. The remains of the old castle are still visible. The coat-of-arms of Isabelle de Melun, who was the daughter of a

Grand Chamberlain of France The Grand Chamberlain of France (french: Grand Chambellan de France) was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France, a member of the ''Maison du Roi'' ("King's Household"), and one of the Great Offices of the Maison du Roi during the Anci ...

, still exists in the 'new' castle. The building was given a symbolic and picturesque character that can still be seen today. The castle was classified as a ''monument historique'' (historic monument) in 1907. The castle is privately owned. Thanks to its very well preserved keep it has been a location for many films, including ''

The Ninth Gate ''The Ninth Gate'' is a 1999 neo-noir horror thriller film directed, produced, and co-written by Roman Polanski. An international co-production between the United States, Portugal, France, and Spain, the film is loosely based upon Arturo Pére ...

'' and ''

Le Peuple migrateur ''Winged Migration'' (french: Le Peuple Migrateur, also known as ''The Travelling Birds'' in some UK releases, or ''The Travelling Birds: An Adventure in Flight'' in Australia) is a 2001 documentary film directed by Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Deba ...

''.

The minstrels' room

On the fourth floor of the keep is the minstrels' room (''salle des musiciens''). It is so called because eight very fine sculptures of musicians with their instruments are represented in the room. Legend has it that the town of Puivert welcomed a great gathering of

troubadours A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...

in the 12th century. The instruments seen in the room are the

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

tambourin The tambourin is a low-pitched tenor drum of Provence, which has also lent its name to a Provençal dance accompanied by lively duple meter music. The dance is so named because the music imitates the drum (''tambour'' being a generic French term ...

rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

gittern The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...

portable organ A portative organ (from the Latin verb , "to carry"), also known during Italian Trecento as the , is a small pipe organ that consists of one rank of flue pipes, sometimes arranged in two rows, to be played while strapped to the performer at a ...

psaltery A psaltery ( el, ψαλτήρι) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer; the harp, virginal, harpsichord and clavichord were also inspired by ...

and the bowed

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

. Elsewhere in the town is a museum (Musée du Quercob) showing the musical tradition of the region from this period.

Description

The walls

The castle's functions were military: lookout and defence, unlike many buildings of the era which had religious goals. The curtain wall extends for 175 m, pierced with arrow slits. It is rectangular in plan. The

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

which separated it from the plateau is practically invisible today. The entrance to the courtyard is through a square gate tower, situated in the centre of the east wall. Five of the original eight towers remain: :*a smooth round tower in the northeast corner :*a rough round tower in the middle of the north wall :*a square tower, with a windowed turret on the eastern side joining the two top floors :*remains of a round tower in the southeast :*the keep (the best preserved part of the castle). As well as the central gateway in the east wall, there are two other doorways: :*one in the northwest corner defended by the keep :*another to the south of the keep giving access to the older castle. The surface area of the site is very large: 3200 m² inside the walls.

The keep

The best preserved part of the castle, the square keep measures 15 m by 15 m with a height of 35 m. Originally, it adjoined the manor house. On the west of the tower can be seen pieces of perpendicular masonry, from which it can be deduced that the buildings were joined in this area. The keep comprises: :* two lower levels: partly underground, with barrel vaulting :* a third floor: the chapel is accessible through a doorway with a broken arch. The room is decorated with small columns, mouldings and shields. The ceiling is rib-vaulted; in the wall is a "''piscina''" (basin). :* a fourth floor: a rib-vaulted room, the culs-de-lampe sculpted with non-religious figures playing musical instruments - the Minstrels' Room (''"Salle des Musiciens"''). It is well lit, thanks to three windows resembling those of the chapel. :* the fifth and top floor: a defensive platform, originally surrounded with

crenellations A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

, provides views of the Quercob region.

References

Sources

* ''Châteaux médiévaux de l'Aude : Guide du visiteur, 25 sites du pays cathare''; Archéologie du Midi médiéval; revue annuelle du Centre d'archéologie médiévale du Languedoc ; supplément au tome 4, 1986. * AUÉ, Michèle; (trans. Pleasance, Simon) (1992). Discover Cathar Country. Vic-en-Bigorre, France: MSM. . * MICHELIN ''Green Guide: Languedoc, Roussillon, Tarn Gorges'' (Michelin Tyre plc 1998) p317

External links

Official web site of the Château de Puivert
*

Château de Puivert window
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puivert, Chateau de Castles in Aude Monuments historiques of Aude Ruined castles in Occitania (administrative region) Catharism