The Château d'Usson (en Occitan: ''Castèl de So'') is one of the so-called

Cathar castles Cathar castles (in French ''Châteaux cathares'') are a group of medieval castles located in the Languedoc region. Some had a Cathar connection in that they offered refuge to dispossessed Cathars in the thirteenth century. Many of these sites wer ...

in what is now southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is located in the '' commune'' of

Rouze Rouze (; Languedocien: ''Rosa'') is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Rouze are called ''Rouzéens''. See also *Communes of the Ariège department The following is a list of the 325 ...

, in the Ariège ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

''. It is sited upstream from

Axat Axat (; ''Atsat'' in Occitan language, Occitan) is a Communes of France, commune in the Aude Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie region of southern France. Geography Axat is located in Cathar c ...

, along 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 " ...

river gorge, carved out of the foothills of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. It is situated at an altitude of and dominates the valley of the Aude. The

Château de Puilaurens The Château de Puilaurens (Puilaurens Castle, also ''Puylaurens''; in Occitan: ''lo Castèl de Puèg-Laurenç'') is one of the so-called Cathar castles in the '' commune'' of Lapradelle-Puilaurens in the Aude ''département''. The castle is lo ...

is away,

Château de Puivert A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

and

Château de Quéribus The Château de Quéribus (in Occitan Castèl de Queribús) is a ruined castle in the '' commune'' of Cucugnan in the Aude ''département'' of France. It has been listed as a ''monument historique'' by the French Ministry of Culture since 1907. ...

History

The castle dates from the 11th century (perhaps earlier) and during the

Cathar Catharism ( ; from the , "the pure ones") was a Christian quasi- dualist and pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a he ...

period marked the eastern boundary of the territories of the

Counts of Foix The Count of Foix ruled the County of Foix, in what is now Southern France, during the Middle Ages. The House of Foix eventually extended its power across the Pyrenees mountain range, joining the House of Bearn and moving their court to Pau, Pyré ...

. In the 12th century, this was the capital of the Donézan region. Before the ''défilé'' was cut through the mountains to link

Quillan Quillan (; Languedocien: ''Quilhan'') is a commune in the Aude department in southern France. On 1 January 2016, the former commune of Brenac was merged into Quillan. Geography Quillan is located at the foothills of the Pyrenees, on the roa ...

, this was an inaccessible outpost providing succour for faidits and other persecuted Cathars. The Cathar

bishop of Toulouse The Archdiocese of Toulouse (–Saint Bertrand de Comminges–Rieux) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the Department of Haute-Garonne and its seat is Toulouse Cathedral. Archbi ...

Guilhabert de Castres Guilhabert de Castres (about 1165 – 1240) was a prominent Cathar theologian. Born in Castres, he became a Cathar Perfect and, between 1223 and 1226, Bishop of Toulouse in the Cathar Church. In the theological debates in the early 13th century betw ...

is known to have taken refuge here. Towards the end of the wars against the Cathars this was one of their last sanctuaries, providing support for

Montségur Montségur (; Languedocien: ''Montsegur'') is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. It is famous for its fortification, the Château de Montségur, that was built on the "pog" (mountain) on the ruins of one of the la ...

. The seigneurs of Usson, Bernard d'Alion, lord of the

Château de Montaillou A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

, and his brother Arnaud d'Usson sent arms and supplies to their besieged comrades there. On 15 March 1244, the day before 225 Cathar ''parfaits'' were burned alive at Montségur, four other ''parfaits'' left the castle there for Usson, where the Cathar treasure had been evacuated a few months earlier. This mystery has fed a number of theories about the equally mysterious treasure supposedly found at

Rennes-le-Château Rennes-le-Château (; ) is a commune approximately 5 km (3 miles) south of Couiza, in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. This hilltop village is known internationally; it receives tens of thousands of vis ...

in the 19th century. Bernard d'Alion was

burned alive Death by burning is an execution, murder, or suicide method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment for and warning agai ...

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

in 1258. The castle was rebuilt as a French border fortress, and given by

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

to the new Marquis d'Usson. Like other seigneurial residences it was sold as communal property at the French Revolution, after which time it was used as a stone quarry. Not far away is the

Château de Donézan A château (, ; plural: châteaux) is a manor house, or palace, or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking reg ...

, where Cathars were still holding out eleven years after the fall of Montségur. Château d'Usson is listed as a ''

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 collection of buildings, ...

'' by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

. On display at the castle are parts of the wreckage of a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

British Dakota transport aircraft which crashed on 5 December 1944 on a nearby mountain with the loss of seventeen lives.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Usson, Chateau d' Buildings and structures completed in the 11th century Monuments historiques of Ariège (department) Castles in Ariège Ruined castles in Occitania (administrative region) Catharism