Niort-de-Sault Castle
| Niort-de-Sault Castle | |
|---|---|
 Niort-de-Sault castle ruins (right) |
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| Creation time : | circa 12th century |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle |
| Conservation status: | ruin |
| Standing position : | Noble seat / Katharerburg / Königsburg |
| Construction: | Quarry stone |
| Place: | Niort-de-Sault |
| Geographical location | 42 ° 48 '12 " N , 2 ° 0' 14" E |
| Height: | 950 m |
The castle Niort-de-Sault ( French Château de Niort-de-Sault , Occitan Al Castèl ) is the ruin of a medieval hilltop castle in the mountains of the Pays de Sault in what is now the Aude department in the French region of Occitania . From the small community of Niort-de-Sault , a one-kilometer long footpath leads to the castle ruins at an altitude of 950 meters.
history
A high fortress ( castrum ) is said to have stood here as early as Visigothic times ; A fortress (castle?) is documented for the 9th century, which was awarded as Apanage Bera, the son of Count von Razès , who then assumed the title of Baron de Niort . Bernard d'Alion, one of his descendants, received the vice-county of Sault in 1047 . Through the marriage of Guillaume d'Alion to Brandinière de Foix from the family of the Counts of Foix in 1132, the barons of Niort rose to the highest regional aristocratic circles.
With the marriage of Guillaume de Niorts (son of Guillaume d'Alion) to Esclarmonde de Montréal- Laurac , whose mother Blanche de Laurac was a follower of the Cathar faith , the Niort family came into close contact with leading figures in the sect. But Niort and his castle remained untouched during the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) due to their remote location in the middle of mountains, gorges and raging streams . Independently of this, the sons of Guillaume and Esclarmonde ( Géraud de Niort , Bernard-Othon de Niort , Guillaume Bernard and Raymond de Roquefeuille ) fought at times on the side of the Crusaders and not on the side of their co-religionists. B. in the battle of Muret (1213).
In 1240 Géraud de Niort handed over all of his property to King Louis IX in a symbolic gesture and as an expression of his goodwill . Usually the king should have returned it immediately as a fiefdom, but - in view of the never-ending disputes with the Cathars, especially with the House of Niort - he confiscated it in favor of the crown. Thereupon there was an uprising in the area of the Sault and with the help of his uncle, the king of Aragon, tried Geraud to regain the area of the former vice-county of Sault. Louis IX sent troops to Niort in 1255, which put an end to the hustle and bustle of the family and - eleven years after the fall of Montségur - also the Cathar movement.
Niort Castle was preserved as a strategically important fortress in France's conflict with the Crown of Aragon and was occupied by troops loyal to the king. In the following period, however, the longstanding conflict with Aragon relaxed; the castle gradually fell into disrepair and was completely destroyed by the Huguenots in 1573 .
architecture
Human hands and natural forces - the castle ruins are almost completely overgrown - have left almost nothing of the castle, which was once so important for the history of Occitania . A staircase carved into the natural rock can still be seen. In the cellar dungeon of the former donjon a badly preserved incised drawing can be seen, which is interpreted as a Cathar cross.
literature
- Mathieu Mir: Histoire du pays de Sault .
- Jean Duvernoy: La fin des seigneurs de Niort et de Laurac .