Pieusse Castle

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View of Pieusse Castle from the north-west

The castle Pieusse ( French Château de Pieusse ) is a medieval castle in the French commune of Pieusse that the Aude department in the region Okzitanien belongs. It was founded by the Counts of Foix and its roots go back to the first half of the 12th century. In 1226 a council of the Cathars took place there, who founded the Cathar bishopric of Razès during this meeting . The complex later belonged to the archbishops until the French Revolutionfrom Narbonne . It has been listed as a Monument Historique since February 14, 1989 .

history

In a bull of Pope Calixt II from 1119, a fortification in Pieusse was first mentioned as castrum puncianum et ecclesiam . The current castle, however, is a little younger and was built between 1140 and 1145 by the Counts of Foix. The complex is known for a council of the Cathars held there in 1226, at which the Cathar diocese of Razès was founded and Benoît de Termes was elected its first bishop. However, it is not clear whether the meeting actually took place at the castle or only in Pieusse.

After the end of the Albigensian Crusade and the Treaty of Paris , Count Roger Bernard II of Foix had to give feudal sovereignty over Pieusse to the French King Louis IX. resign. He in turn awarded it to the Archdiocese of Narbonne , where it remained until the French Revolution. A copy book from the 14th century listing the archbishop's possessions mentions that the Pieusse castle was in good condition and included an orchard and two wine cellars.

Confiscated during the French Revolution , the complex was sold as national property in 1791 and first used as an apartment, then for agricultural purposes. In the 1960s, the then owner Jacques Alins discovered a document from 1787 that contained evidence of a gold treasure hidden in the castle cellar. But neither he nor the subsequent owner François Sarda was able to find this treasure. In the meantime, the entire facility was badly neglected and run down. As a result, part of the Donjon called the Vierecksturm collapsed in 1987 .

In 2014, Jean-François & Frédérique Accart bought the part of the ruin and began repair work. A group of friends founded in 2015 for the preservation of the castle supported them in this. Since 2016, the couple has been looking for a buyer for the facility because they can not finance its further restoration .

description

The “keep” of the castle

The facility is strategically located on the top of a rock from which one can overlook the valley of the Aude . It has an approximately trapezoidal floor plan and is surrounded by a 120 meter long circular wall. In the castle courtyard there is a fountain that used to ensure the supply of water to the complex during times of siege . Some of the surviving outbuildings of the partial ruin have been redesigned for residential purposes.

The center of the complex is a four-storey tower, which is called the donjon, although it never served a defense function. It measures about 11 x 7 meters and is surrounded by a shallow pitched roof completed. Its floors were previously connected by a staircase in the southeast corner, but the stairwell collapsed in the 1980s. The north facade of the tower is best preserved. There are domed pointed arch windows on the second and third floors that could date to the 13th century.

Inside the tower, a brightly painted beamed ceiling has been preserved on the first floor , possibly from the 13th century and thus one of the oldest preserved ceilings of its kind in the region. In addition to geometric figures, it shows stylized stars and heraldic shields that used to carry weapons, but are now heavily weathered.

Web links

Commons : Burg Pieusse  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Entry of the castle in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  2. ↑ a b Chronology of the complex on the castle website , accessed on October 2, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c Homepage of the castle website , accessed on October 2, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b Description on the castle website , accessed October 2, 2018.

Coordinates: 43 ° 4 ′ 49.9 "  N , 2 ° 13 ′ 56.3"  E