Termez Castle

Termez Castle
	Termes Castle above the village
Creation time :	circa 12th century
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Katharerburg / Königsburg
Place:	Termes
Geographical location	43 ° 0 '8 " N , 2 ° 33' 24" E Coordinates: 43 ° 0 '8 " N , 2 ° 33' 24" E
Height:	480 m

The Château de Termes ( French Château de Termes , Occitan Castèl de termes ) is the ruins of a medieval hilltop castle in the mountain massif of the Corbières in today's Aude department in the French region of Occitania . It has been under monument protection as Monument historique since September 25, 1989 .

location

The small community of Termes is about 360 meters above sea level and about 57 kilometers (driving distance) southwest of Narbonne and 50 kilometers southeast of Carcassonne . From the village it is still a one kilometer long footpath with a 100 to 130 meter difference in altitude to the castle ruins at 480 m .

history

Legally, Termes belonged to the domain of the Vice Counts of Carcassonne , but in fact the Seigneurs de Termes were largely independent. Sources from the 11th and 12th centuries indicate that around 60 villages, 28 of them fortified , belonged to the sphere of influence of the lords of Termes. In the Middle Ages, ore was mined in the Corbières, and part of the income went to the Seigneurs de Termes .

Reconstruction drawing of the Katharerburg with castra in front

Termes Castle is mentioned as early as the middle of the 12th century. Towards the end of the century it offered shelter to the many Cathars who had settled in a fortified village ( bourg or castrum ) at their feet. In 1210 the complex was besieged as one of the Cathar castles during the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) , with both sides having catapults . After almost four months of siege - the water cisterns were empty and the defenders fell ill with the dysentery - the castle fell to the crusaders under Simon de Montfort in December 1210 . Raimond de Termes , the father of Olivier de Termes , was captured and died shortly afterwards in Carcassonne dungeon.

In 1228 a royal garrison was quartered in the largely destroyed castle , which on the one hand was supposed to prevent the Cathar movement from flaring up again, but on the other hand also held a strategically important position in the fight against the expansion efforts of the Crown of Aragon . Louis IX had the castle rebuilt from around 1260 and thus brought it back to life.

Seven years before the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659, King Louis XIV ordered the destruction of the castle, which had become a base for robbers and highwaymen. The blasting and demolition work was entrusted to an entrepreneur from Limoux , who had the stones that were still usable removed and sold. As early as 1654, the work was largely completed, the cost of the state treasury was 14,922 livres and 10 sou .

architecture

Most of the structure of today's castle ruins comes from the reconstruction phase under Ludwig IX. Hardly anything can be identified from the older Katharerburg.

The floor plan of the castle, which was largely adapted to the rocky terrain and only accessible from the south side, had an outer defensive wall with several round towers . Between these lay straight curtains that were not sloped and equipped with battlements .

The actual core castle was about 15 meters higher and consisted of several rectangular residential buildings with cisterns sunk into the ground. It is still not clear whether a donjon existed. A separate and formerly vaulted building with a cross-shaped window is most likely identified by archaeologists as a chapel .

Hardly anything has been preserved from a former outpost ( French Termenet ) of the main castle.