Châteaux de Lastours
| Châteaux de Lastours | ||
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 Châteaux de Lastours |
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| Alternative name (s): | Castèls de las Tors | |
| Creation time : | 11-13 century | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castles | |
| Conservation status: | ruins | |
| Standing position : | Aristocratic seats / Cathar castles / royal castle | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Lastours | |
| Geographical location | 43 ° 20 '11 " N , 2 ° 22' 42" E | |
| Height: | 360 m | |
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The Châteaux de Lastours ( Occitan : Castèls de Las Tors ) are four castle ruins in the southern foothills of the Montagne Noire above the Orbiel river in the heart of the Pays du Cabardès . The hilltop castles are 360 m away, about two kilometers on foot and 180 meters in altitude from Lastours . They have been recognized as Monuments historiques since 1905 .
history
In the 11th century, the castles belonged to the Lords of Cabaret, a quite numerous family who made Lastours a center of the Albigensian movement , but the last lord of the castle ( seigneur ) of Lastours, Pierre Roger de Cabaret , stepped during the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229 ) Surrender his property to Simon de Montfort without a fight ; he died in 1229 or a few years later.
architecture
The four (originally three) castles ( châteaux ) located directly next to each other on an approx. 360 meter high ridge are the attractions of the place. They date from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries; its walls - with the exception of a few well-hewn corner stones - are made of rubble stones .
Château de Cabaret
The Château de Cabaret was the ancestral seat of the once powerful Seigneurs de Cabaret and thus the most important of the castles of Lastours. Two towers and the outer walls of the residential wing ( Corps de Logis ) are still preserved. The defense or residential tower ( Donjon ) has a pentagonal floor plan, on its upper floor a Gothic vault made of unprofiled ribs has been preserved. The towers and the residential wing are connected by defensive walls ( curtains ); the battlement rests on large Gothic arcades with pointed arches.
Tour Régine
The complex, known as the Tour Régine , was probably not built until after the end of the Albigensian Wars (i.e. around 1260) and thus symbolizes the victory of the northern French monarchy and Catholicism over the rebellious deviants of the south. Its distinctive feature is the powerful, all-around with loopholes provided round tower , probably served as a residential tower, because in the upper area there is also a window - a Corps de Logis , however, is not (any more). In the floor next to the tower there is a cistern in which rainwater was collected.
Château de Surdespine
The Château de Surdespine is received worst of all buildings. The foundation walls of a square donjon , parts of the residential wing and the remains of two cisterns can still be seen. The complex did not have a round tower.
Château de Querthineux
The Château de Querthineux stands on a separate crag on the right, i.e. H. southern edge of the four castles. Its large round tower has a small side spiral staircase ( vis ). There are also traces of a Romanesque church.
Castrum
On a mountain slope about 50 meters below the castles is the excavation site of one of several fortified hill settlements ( castra ) in the immediate vicinity of the castles , which was uncovered in the 1980s and 1990s .
literature
- Henri-Paul Eydoux: Châteaux des pays de l'Aude. In: Congrès archéologique de France. 131e session. Pays de l'Aude. 1973. Société Française d'Archéologie, Paris 1973, pp. 208-212.
- Marie-Élise Gardel, Bruno Jaudon, Sylvain Olivier: De Rivière à Lastours, histoire d'un village languedocien (XIIIe-XXe siècles). Nouvelles Éditions Loubatières, 2011, ISBN 978-2-86266-634-1 .
Web links
- Lastours - Tourism website (French)
- Lastours, castles - floor plans, photos and information (French)
- Lastours, Castles - Info (French)
- Lastours, castles - photos + information (French)
- Lastours, Castrum - Reconstruction drawing + information (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Châteaux de Lastours, Lastours in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)